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(engine racing)

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(subway clacking)

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(jet engine roaring)

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We live in an exciting time in human history.

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Time when the world has never been smaller.

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(dramatic music)

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Time when we can drive,

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sail and fly to almost anywhere.

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Three,
<v ->We can even

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leave our planet.
Two,

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one, liftoff.

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(rocket engine blasting)

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How did this happen?

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This is the incredible story

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of our civilization's ceaseless desire to move.

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(laughing)

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(train swooshing)

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I'm Sean Riley, I've always been fascinated by speed.

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(dramatic music)

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Come with me on a journey,

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to better understand the game changing engineering,

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courageous innovators,

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god, it really fights ya,

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and the machines that take us further,

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higher, and above all faster.

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(serene music)

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Space is the most hostile environment we know.

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Navigating it involves crossing unprecedented distances.

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It's the greatest engineering challenge

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humanity has ever undertaken.

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(intense music)

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To see how far we can travel,

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I'm exploring what speed the human body can withstand.

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Seeking out the pioneers

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who've dreamed of reaching other worlds,

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and the revolutionary technology,

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pushing the boundaries of space exploration.

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(dramatic music)

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(screaming)

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Breaking away from the Earth means

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engineering machines capable of fighting

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one of the most fundamental forces of our universe.

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Now, the really exciting bit is just up the track,

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in that direction.

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This roller coaster loop is around 60 feet high.

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To stand any chance of negotiating it,

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I need to defy gravity.

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I means you have to put energy into the vehicle,

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and get it up to a really fast speed.

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Woo, okay.

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Here we go, and upside down, and back flip.

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Ha ha.

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Speeding at over 40 miles an hour,

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upside down again,

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means I can overcome Earth's gravitational pull,

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for just a few seconds.

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Any slower, and I couldn't loop up

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and around the track.

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(dramatic music)

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Awesome.

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If that's the kind of energy it takes

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to get me to overcome gravity here,

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at about 60 feet,

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think about how much power it takes

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to put something into orbit.

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About 250 miles up.

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(dramatic music)

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Speed is essential for leaving Earth.

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And there are two key velocities.

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Reaching Earth orbit means accelerating

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to around 17,500 miles an hour.

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Slower than that, and gravity wins.

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Breaking away from Earth altogether

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means going even faster.

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Over 24,000 miles an hour, that's seven miles a second.

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Today, the only way we know

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of reaching these phenomenal speeds

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is by creating a sustained, controlled explosion.

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A rocket.

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At the beginning of the 20th century,

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the audacious dream of leaving Earth

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will come to preoccupy this man, Robert Goddard.

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From an early age, Goddard is fascinated by space flight,

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inspired by science fiction novels.

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And one day, while pruning a tree at his home,

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the 17 year old has an epiphany.

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What if he can turn the dream of reaching space

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into a reality?

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(serene music)

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For hundreds of years,

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rockets have been fueled with explosive gunpowder.

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But gunpowder is inefficient.

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To go faster means finding

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a significantly more powerful fuel.

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In a flash of inspiration, Goddard realizes

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he can create a more powerful rocket using liquid fuels,

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made from gasoline and oxygen.

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(dramatic music)

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Goddard starts experimenting with liquid fueled rockets.

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His wife, Esther, films his early efforts.

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(rocket blasting)

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(rocket exploding)

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Through dogged determination, he launches larger,

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more powerful rockets.

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And in 1935, he achieves the unprecedented.

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Building the first rocket to break the sound barrier.

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Over 700 miles an hour.

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But accelerating into space requires huge amounts of fuel,

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making single rockets too heavy.

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Goddard has an ingenious solution.

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To put one rocket on top of the other.

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By jettisoning each stage, once its fuel is spent,

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it's possible to shed weight as the rocket climbs,

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allowing it to accelerate faster.

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Goddard is convinced that a multistage rocket

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is the key to leaving Earth,

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and reaching the near vacuum of space.

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(dramatic music)

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At the time, many refute the audacious idea

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that a rocket can travel through a vacuum.

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And without air to push against, how will it move?

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(serene music)

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Goddard's dream of interplanetary travel is ridiculed.

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The press calls his ideas absurd.

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The criticism has a damning effect on Goddard.

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He's a modest man and he shuns all future publicity.

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But, he never gives up.

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Goddard continues his pioneering rocket research,

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right up to his death in 1945.

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But his work sets humanity on a trajectory into space.

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First to seize on the power of liquid rocket dream

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are the Germans.

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During World World II, their V-2 rocket,

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the world's first ballistic missile,

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travels at more than three times the speed of sound.

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Used as a formidable weapon, not for the stars.

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In 1957, the Soviets create the R-7.

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This two stage rocket is the first

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powerful enough to break free of Earth's gravity,

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and place an object into orbit, Sputnik 1.

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By adding a third stage, in 1961,

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the Soviets build Vostok 1, which has enough energy

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to accelerate the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin.

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But it's America's massive, three staged, Saturn V rocket,

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which finally fulfills Robert Goddard's dreams,

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of a manned rocket, powerful enough

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to leave the Earth altogether, and head to the Moon.

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(gentle music)

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If you're looking for the legacy of Robert Goddard,

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or if you're looking for an example of courage

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on a grand scale,

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you don't have to look any further than this.

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This is the massive Apollo Saturn V Moon rocket.

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And it is a phenomenal piece of human engineering.

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[Capsule Communicator] Ignition sequence starts.

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Five, four, three, two, one, zero.

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(dramatic music)

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Liftoff, we have a liftoff.

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The Saturn V is the fastest manned rocket ever built.

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At launch, five mighty F-1 engines

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guzzle over 3,000 gallons of fuel a second.

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66 seconds later, the rocket smashes the sound barrier.

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At a height of 42 miles, the first stage drops away,

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and the second stage kicks in,

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accelerating the astronauts even faster.

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Nine minutes after launch,

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a single third stage rocket fires,

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placing the spacecraft into Earth orbit,

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at over 17,000 miles an hour.

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A final boost of speed accelerates the crew

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to over 24,000 miles an hour.

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Enough to escape the Earth's gravity,

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and to change the course of human history.

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(serene music)

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It's one small step for man,

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one giant leap for mankind.

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It's been a long way but we're here.

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My oh my.

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That is a very impressive sight.

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Between 1968 and 1972, the mighty Saturn V

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sends 24 men to the Moon.

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(serene music)

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As soon as I stand out here

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in the wonders of the unknown,

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I sort of realize there's a fundamental truth to our nature,

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man must explore, and this is exploration at its greatest.

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(serene music)

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(mysterious music)

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Today, 50 years after the first Moon landing,

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we stand on the brink of a new age in human exploration.

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The goal now is to build a new generation of rockets.

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To not only send humans back to the Moon,

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but further still.

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(dramatic music)

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To Mars.

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Lying tens of millions of miles away,

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this planet offers a unique testbed,

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where we can learn to live on a new world.

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But getting humans there will mean undertaking

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the most hazardous journey in history,

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and speed will be critical.

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(mysterious music)

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You know, walking around out here, you get a real sense

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for just how giant this next generation of rockets

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is going to be.

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NASAs latest is a beast, the Space Launch System.

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Like its predecessors, the Space Launch System, or SLS

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is a staged rocket.

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Its mission, to carry us faster, and further into space,

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than any other rocket.

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And potentially on to Mars.

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This rocket will be the most powerful ever built.

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Even outperforming the Saturn V.

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(dramatic music)

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But the first leg of the SLSs journey of extreme speed

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will be anything but fast.

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This is NASAs massive crawler transporter,

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the largest self powered moving machine on the planet.

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For over 50 years, its job

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has been to carry NASAs giant rockets to the launch pad.

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Inching forward at only one mile an hour,

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this beast has to keep its valuable cargo perfectly level.

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One wrong move could be catastrophic.

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The final hurdle is climbing the ramp to the launchpad.

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Using laser guidance, and a hydraulic leveling system,

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the crawler makes precise millimeter adjustments

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to keep its towering payload safe.

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Once in place, the rocket is fueled, and ready for launch.

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(serene music)

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(rocket blasting)

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(dramatic music)

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This incredible footage shows the beating

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that a rocket gives a launchpad during takeoff.

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The SLS will test the launchpad to its limits.

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NASA protects its pad and high tech rockets

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with a low tech solution.

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(gentle music)

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(water roaring)

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We have a 400,000 gallon water tank.

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And that protects the mobile launcher from the heat.

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We dump about 400,000 gallons out,

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in less than 25 seconds, just before liftoff,

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and continue after liftoff.

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This deluge of water protects both the pad

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and the rocket from the extreme heat and energy

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produced during launch.

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(dramatic music)

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(rocket engine blasting)

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Onboard the SLS, as it speeds into space,

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will be a new generation of spacecraft.

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NASAs first in 40 years.

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The Orion module, designed for missions to the Moon,

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and Mars, Orion has nearly twice the capacity

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of Apollo's command module.

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Large enough to accommodate four astronauts into deep space.

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But getting into space is one thing.

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Returning to Earth is another.

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For that, Orion depends on its most critical feature,

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the heat shield.

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Reentering the Earth's atmosphere

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is a battle against speed.

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In fact, the fastest humans ever were the crew of Apollo 10.

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Returning from the Moon at almost 25,000 miles an hour,

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hitting the atmosphere at these speeds

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generates temperatures of around 5,000 degrees.

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Orion and its crew are protected by the largest heat shield

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NASA has ever created.

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Measuring 16 feet across, 320,000 tiny cells are filled

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by hand with a synthetic material called AVCOAT.

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AVCOAT is a resin designed to be consumed

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by the heat of reentry.

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It slowly burns away, taking the heat with it as it goes,

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protecting the spacecraft.

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But before Orion can be trusted with a crew,

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its heat shield has to pass a trial by fire.

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Reentering the Earth's atmosphere.

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[Capsule Commander] Five, four, three, two, one.

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And liftoff, at dawn, the dawn of Orion,

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and a new era of American space exploration.

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(rocket blasting)

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Orion slams into the atmosphere,

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at over 20,000 miles per hour, slowing rapidly.

283
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This onboard camera captures the blaze

284
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left in its wake, as the capsule's heat shield

285
00:19:48,350 --> 00:19:52,230
faces temperatures half as hot as the surface of the sun.

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Orion survives its battle with speed,

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all thanks to an incredible material.

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It's a major milestone for future missions

289
00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:16,013
to the Moon and Mars.

290
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When I was a kid, I loved rockets.

291
00:20:30,250 --> 00:20:31,860
I still love rockets.

292
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I grew up with images of these massive, historic,

293
00:20:34,380 --> 00:20:37,163
multistage rockets lifting off into the sky.

294
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Awesome stuff.

295
00:20:42,860 --> 00:20:45,180
But the only time these rockets look like this

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is at launch.

297
00:20:46,350 --> 00:20:48,580
As soon as the stages are used, they're junked.

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(dramatic music)

299
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To provide a platform to move into deeper space,

300
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the goal is to make space travel as regular as air travel.

301
00:21:03,130 --> 00:21:06,100
But imagine how expensive flying would be

302
00:21:06,100 --> 00:21:09,223
if after each flight, a plane had to be thrown away.

303
00:21:11,276 --> 00:21:12,780
(intense music)

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Each Saturn V rocket cost over 750 million dollars

305
00:21:17,380 --> 00:21:20,823
in today's money, only to be used once.

306
00:21:27,423 --> 00:21:30,173
(exciting music)

307
00:21:32,260 --> 00:21:34,880
To help reduce the cost of getting to space,

308
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,310
and open up the possibility of more regular trips,

309
00:21:38,310 --> 00:21:41,480
NASA has teamed up with private rocket companies,

310
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,260
like SpaceX, whose engineers are transforming

311
00:21:45,260 --> 00:21:46,683
the way rockets work.

312
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Their idea, to land each of the rocket stages

313
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safely on Earth,

314
00:21:56,990 --> 00:22:00,300
so that they can be refueled and reused,

315
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drastically reducing costs.

316
00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,493
It might sound simple, but pulling it off is anything but.

317
00:22:09,494 --> 00:22:13,190
(light airy music)

318
00:22:13,190 --> 00:22:16,447
Take a look at this video, posted by SpaceX.

319
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:20,833
Ooh.

320
00:22:39,230 --> 00:22:40,844
Wow, crazy right?

321
00:22:40,844 --> 00:22:42,470
I mean you look at this and you think,

322
00:22:42,470 --> 00:22:45,060
god, do these people know what they're doing?

323
00:22:45,060 --> 00:22:47,160
The truth is, what these people are trying to do,

324
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:48,520
no one knows how to do it, right?

325
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:49,970
They're way off the map here.

326
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:56,310
Personally, I think it's admirable

327
00:22:56,310 --> 00:22:57,780
they're willing to share their failures.

328
00:22:57,780 --> 00:23:00,210
I mean they're basically saying if you wanna make an omelet,

329
00:23:00,210 --> 00:23:03,380
you gotta break a few eggs, that's how you learn.

330
00:23:03,380 --> 00:23:06,840
(dramatic music)

331
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,113
And in just eight years, look how far they've come.

332
00:23:12,470 --> 00:23:16,060
In February 2018, SpaceX launched

333
00:23:16,060 --> 00:23:19,163
the most powerful operational rocket on the planet.

334
00:23:20,340 --> 00:23:21,713
The Falcon Heavy.

335
00:23:24,820 --> 00:23:27,993
Its payload, a Tesla Roadster.

336
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,603
Launched to Mars and beyond.

337
00:23:35,980 --> 00:23:37,923
An incredible publicity stunt.

338
00:23:40,770 --> 00:23:44,140
But the real test is to successfully land

339
00:23:44,140 --> 00:23:46,853
the Falcon Heavy's three rockets.

340
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,660
Traveling at over 4,000 miles per hour,

341
00:23:53,660 --> 00:23:57,800
engines burn, and fins deploy to slow the rockets,

342
00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,043
and keep them upright.

343
00:23:59,980 --> 00:24:01,763
One of the rockets fails.

344
00:24:09,570 --> 00:24:10,893
Two fight on.

345
00:24:14,510 --> 00:24:16,940
A final burn, and the rockets slow

346
00:24:16,940 --> 00:24:19,003
to just five miles per hour.

347
00:24:25,310 --> 00:24:28,300
Falcon Heavy's successful maiden voyage

348
00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:29,783
is a huge achievement.

349
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,300
Reusable rockets will drastically reduce

350
00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:38,653
the cost of future missions to space,

351
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,810
providing a platform to speed into orbit

352
00:24:42,810 --> 00:24:45,043
and beyond more regularly.

353
00:24:48,940 --> 00:24:53,330
But the journey to Mars is long and hazardous,

354
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:56,323
taking approximately nine months just to get there.

355
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,470
During that time, the astronauts will be exposed

356
00:25:01,470 --> 00:25:03,710
to the dangers of deep space.

357
00:25:03,710 --> 00:25:05,693
Longer than anyone before.

358
00:25:09,876 --> 00:25:12,852
(mysterious music)

359
00:25:12,852 --> 00:25:14,602
I seen a light flash.

360
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,783
A few flashes, I'm not quite sure what they're ascribed to.

361
00:25:27,940 --> 00:25:32,320
Houston, so far we've all seen just point sources of light.

362
00:25:34,860 --> 00:25:37,810
Hard evidence of these hazards first came to light

363
00:25:37,810 --> 00:25:40,863
with a mysterious observation 50 years ago.

364
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,150
During the Apollo missions to the Moon,

365
00:25:44,150 --> 00:25:47,013
astronauts noticed bright flashes of light.

366
00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:49,963
Even when their eyes were closed.

367
00:25:51,143 --> 00:25:52,633
Tranquility, we come to you on the ground.

368
00:25:52,633 --> 00:25:54,750
Once returned to Earth,

369
00:25:54,750 --> 00:25:58,263
scientists examined their helmets with powerful microscopes.

370
00:25:59,430 --> 00:26:02,950
Tiny holes, invisible to the naked eye,

371
00:26:02,950 --> 00:26:05,693
revealed the hidden dangers of deep space.

372
00:26:15,390 --> 00:26:18,870
We tend to think about space as being empty, a vacuum.

373
00:26:18,870 --> 00:26:23,520
But in reality it's full of high energy subatomic particles

374
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,490
we call space radiation.

375
00:26:25,490 --> 00:26:27,090
Are these particles dangerous?

376
00:26:28,668 --> 00:26:31,418
(balls blasting)

377
00:26:33,950 --> 00:26:36,010
Think of this tennis ball as an example

378
00:26:36,010 --> 00:26:37,560
of one of these tiny particles.

379
00:26:39,030 --> 00:26:42,403
These particles as radiation have enormous speed and energy,

380
00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:45,840
so they can go through the walls of spacecraft.

381
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,240
They can go into our bodies, through our bodies.

382
00:26:50,590 --> 00:26:52,380
And the end result of that is

383
00:26:52,380 --> 00:26:54,290
that they can start breaking bones,

384
00:26:54,290 --> 00:26:55,990
and the molecules that make us up.

385
00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,730
The longer you spend in space,

386
00:26:59,730 --> 00:27:02,000
the more this damage can build up,

387
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,480
and therefore that can have long term consequences

388
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,060
in terms of astronaut health.

389
00:27:06,060 --> 00:27:07,300
Things like mutations,

390
00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:09,659
potentially the increased risk of cancer.

391
00:27:09,659 --> 00:27:12,576
(mysterious music)

392
00:27:13,750 --> 00:27:16,683
Some space radiation comes from our sun.

393
00:27:18,250 --> 00:27:21,910
But the most likely source of these deadly cosmic rays

394
00:27:21,910 --> 00:27:24,283
is from outside of our solar system.

395
00:27:25,890 --> 00:27:30,463
When stars, much heavier than our sun die, they explode,

396
00:27:31,450 --> 00:27:35,833
resulting in a huge celestial event called a supernova.

397
00:27:37,390 --> 00:27:41,220
Supernovae send particles flying throughout the galaxy,

398
00:27:41,220 --> 00:27:43,520
at close to the speed of light,

399
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,033
tearing through everything in their path.

400
00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:50,180
The flashes of light, seen by the Apollo astronauts

401
00:27:50,180 --> 00:27:54,543
were caused by these cosmic rays hitting their optic nerves.

402
00:27:58,150 --> 00:28:01,400
So, in a nutshell, space is full of these deadly particles,

403
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,183
and you don't wanna let 'em hit you.

404
00:28:05,450 --> 00:28:07,340
So the best way to minimize exposure

405
00:28:07,340 --> 00:28:10,190
is to minimize the amount of time you spend in space,

406
00:28:10,190 --> 00:28:11,730
which means on a trip to Mars and back,

407
00:28:11,730 --> 00:28:15,202
you wanna go as fast as you possibly can.

408
00:28:15,202 --> 00:28:16,660
(dramatic music)

409
00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:19,290
To do that, scientists are developing

410
00:28:19,290 --> 00:28:22,660
revolutionary new propulsion systems.

411
00:28:22,660 --> 00:28:27,140
One is based on an idea that remained hidden for decades

412
00:28:27,140 --> 00:28:28,863
behind the Iron Curtain.

413
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:35,070
In the late 1920s, a young Russian scientist,

414
00:28:35,070 --> 00:28:39,010
Valentin Glushko becomes fascinated by rockets,

415
00:28:39,010 --> 00:28:40,763
and interplanetary travel.

416
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,660
But Glushko wants to look beyond liquid fueled rockets

417
00:28:45,660 --> 00:28:47,413
for a more efficient fuel.

418
00:28:48,510 --> 00:28:50,433
He has a radical idea.

419
00:28:51,670 --> 00:28:55,563
Perhaps electricity could be used to generate thrust.

420
00:28:58,540 --> 00:29:01,870
Glushko puts his theory to the test,

421
00:29:01,870 --> 00:29:04,040
using high current electricity,

422
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,883
he vaporizes thin wires of metal,

423
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,960
which produces an ultra fast jet of atoms, known as ions.

424
00:29:14,230 --> 00:29:17,830
Glushko realizes not only can he use this jet of atoms

425
00:29:17,830 --> 00:29:21,640
to produce thrust, but at far greater speeds

426
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,223
than liquid fueled rockets.

427
00:29:24,100 --> 00:29:26,283
The potential is staggering.

428
00:29:28,997 --> 00:29:31,250
(serene music)

429
00:29:31,250 --> 00:29:33,720
His genius earns him a leading role

430
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,403
in the Soviet rocket program.

431
00:29:36,300 --> 00:29:38,793
But with fame comes attention,

432
00:29:39,790 --> 00:29:42,220
and during Stalin's great purge,

433
00:29:42,220 --> 00:29:44,910
Glushko is arrested by the secret police

434
00:29:44,910 --> 00:29:46,263
and thrown into prison.

435
00:29:49,390 --> 00:29:52,880
Glushko's breakthrough research remains locked away

436
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,983
until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

437
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,630
Then scientists in the west finally get to see

438
00:30:01,630 --> 00:30:04,893
Glushko's pioneering work with electric thrusters.

439
00:30:10,748 --> 00:30:12,320
(dramatic music)

440
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,610
This technology has the potential

441
00:30:14,610 --> 00:30:17,353
to propel us to Mars, and beyond.

442
00:30:19,330 --> 00:30:23,010
It's the promise of faster speeds that is inspiring

443
00:30:23,010 --> 00:30:27,140
a whole new generation of rocket pioneers.

444
00:30:27,140 --> 00:30:28,240
I'm here to talk with someone

445
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,660
who knows more about space travel than most.

446
00:30:30,660 --> 00:30:32,800
That's because he's been there, and done that,

447
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:34,173
over and over again.

448
00:30:37,260 --> 00:30:39,943
Ex NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz.

449
00:30:40,820 --> 00:30:44,543
Franklin has been to space seven times.

450
00:30:46,460 --> 00:30:49,650
This modern day pioneer is currently developing

451
00:30:49,650 --> 00:30:52,783
his very own working electric thruster.

452
00:30:58,062 --> 00:30:59,895
Aw, wow, look at that.

453
00:31:03,150 --> 00:31:04,210
That's cool.

454
00:31:04,210 --> 00:31:06,593
So, what am I looking at right now?

455
00:31:07,544 --> 00:31:10,010
What you see here is a vacuum chamber.

456
00:31:10,010 --> 00:31:11,130
It's just a can.

457
00:31:11,130 --> 00:31:12,037
Your engine is inside that?

458
00:31:12,037 --> 00:31:15,340
The engine is inside, but we have to create

459
00:31:15,340 --> 00:31:19,060
the conditions of space, inside this can.

460
00:31:19,060 --> 00:31:21,014
That's the noise that you hear.

461
00:31:21,014 --> 00:31:22,423
That's the vacuum pumps.

462
00:31:22,423 --> 00:31:24,909
That's the vacuum pumps, pumping away.

463
00:31:24,909 --> 00:31:27,380
(dramatic music)

464
00:31:27,380 --> 00:31:29,900
In the simulated vacuum of space,

465
00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:33,250
Franklin's electric thruster, or ion drive

466
00:31:33,250 --> 00:31:37,673
uses argon gas as a fuel by turning it into a plasma.

467
00:31:41,170 --> 00:31:44,610
First, it takes the argon gas and applies enough heat

468
00:31:44,610 --> 00:31:48,700
to break the gas apart into its elemental components.

469
00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,140
Stripping electrons from the atoms,

470
00:31:51,140 --> 00:31:55,130
and creating plasma, a soup of charged particles,

471
00:31:55,130 --> 00:31:56,693
made of ions.

472
00:31:58,452 --> 00:32:00,869
(rock music)

473
00:32:08,710 --> 00:32:11,033
We come across plasma every day.

474
00:32:14,900 --> 00:32:18,223
You can see it in florescent lights, and neon signs.

475
00:32:20,830 --> 00:32:24,420
But to use plasma as a fuel, the challenge is

476
00:32:24,420 --> 00:32:27,103
to heat it up to millions of degrees.

477
00:32:28,890 --> 00:32:31,133
As hot as the center of the sun.

478
00:32:35,750 --> 00:32:39,560
At these temperatures, the ions have huge amounts of energy,

479
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,843
moving at super fast speeds inside the engine.

480
00:32:45,090 --> 00:32:48,430
Next, you need to turn the ions into thrust.

481
00:32:48,430 --> 00:32:51,310
For that, a magnetic field is used

482
00:32:51,310 --> 00:32:54,360
to direct the ions, expelling them out

483
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:58,293
the back of the engine, and creating thrust.

484
00:33:01,460 --> 00:33:02,670
So is it firing right now?

485
00:33:02,670 --> 00:33:06,310
It is on, yes, it's on and we can walk over there

486
00:33:06,310 --> 00:33:07,143
and have a look.

487
00:33:07,143 --> 00:33:07,976
Yeah what does it look like

488
00:33:07,976 --> 00:33:09,323
when it's actually working?

489
00:33:10,540 --> 00:33:12,960
You can see a little bit of the halo

490
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,110
that is just on the edges of the plasma,

491
00:33:16,110 --> 00:33:19,813
and that's what shows the effect of the magnetic field.

492
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,510
So that's actually shaping the plasma?

493
00:33:22,510 --> 00:33:24,550
Exactly, and you can see the plasma

494
00:33:24,550 --> 00:33:28,650
doesn't touch any of the surrounding hardware,

495
00:33:28,650 --> 00:33:30,945
because if it did, it would vaporize it.

496
00:33:30,945 --> 00:33:33,550
So hot.
<v ->It would be very.

497
00:33:33,550 --> 00:33:35,600
So the hotter the rocket,

498
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,250
the higher the speed of the exhaust.

499
00:33:38,250 --> 00:33:41,710
And you want to increase the speed of the exhaust

500
00:33:41,710 --> 00:33:43,465
as much as you can.

501
00:33:43,465 --> 00:33:46,048
(serene music)

502
00:33:47,500 --> 00:33:51,280
Franklin and his team aim to engineer an ion drive

503
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,520
that can reach speeds up to 10 times faster

504
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:55,963
than conventional rockets.

505
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,240
Traveling at these speeds could open up a whole new era

506
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:02,703
of space exploration.

507
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,690
Reaching Mars would take just six weeks,

508
00:34:06,690 --> 00:34:10,140
rather than months, drastically reducing our exposure

509
00:34:10,140 --> 00:34:11,393
to space radiation.

510
00:34:12,750 --> 00:34:16,890
With shorter travel times, Mars might provide humanity

511
00:34:16,890 --> 00:34:19,275
with a new place to call home.

512
00:34:19,275 --> 00:34:21,858
(serene music)

513
00:34:23,870 --> 00:34:25,460
The race to reach other worlds

514
00:34:25,460 --> 00:34:28,143
is being driven by a very real imperative,

515
00:34:29,070 --> 00:34:30,993
our survival as a species.

516
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:36,060
Take the dinosaurs, they dominated this planet

517
00:34:36,060 --> 00:34:39,980
for over 100 million years, and then bam,

518
00:34:39,980 --> 00:34:42,480
and now all that's left of them are their fossils.

519
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,700
Putting humans on more than one planet

520
00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:47,510
will dramatically increase our chances

521
00:34:47,510 --> 00:34:49,123
of continuing existence.

522
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,870
(dramatic music)

523
00:34:54,870 --> 00:34:58,440
Mars provides a unique opportunity where we can learn

524
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,323
to live on another planet.

525
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,510
But as robotic scouts learn more

526
00:35:06,510 --> 00:35:08,240
about our planetary neighbor,

527
00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:11,473
we're discovering it's no substitute for Earth.

528
00:35:13,090 --> 00:35:16,953
Conditions there are almost as hostile as in deep space.

529
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,990
We need to look beyond our solar system,

530
00:35:20,990 --> 00:35:23,173
for more Earth like planets.

531
00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:31,740
Speed gives us a way to put powerful telescopes into orbit,

532
00:35:31,740 --> 00:35:34,673
delivering an unprecedented view of our galaxy,

533
00:35:35,740 --> 00:35:38,350
and allowing us to detect new worlds

534
00:35:38,350 --> 00:35:40,600
in far flung solar systems.

535
00:35:43,620 --> 00:35:48,220
So far, nearly 4,000 planets, orbiting distant stars,

536
00:35:48,220 --> 00:35:49,403
have been discovered.

537
00:35:51,768 --> 00:35:53,290
(serene music)

538
00:35:53,290 --> 00:35:57,810
Remarkably, an Earth like planet Proxima b,

539
00:35:57,810 --> 00:35:59,923
sits on our galactic doorstep.

540
00:36:02,610 --> 00:36:05,680
Igniting new desires to travel faster

541
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,513
and further than ever before.

542
00:36:11,300 --> 00:36:14,180
If we have any hope of making interstellar travel a reality,

543
00:36:14,180 --> 00:36:15,350
we're going to have to increase

544
00:36:15,350 --> 00:36:17,950
the speed of our spacecraft exponentially.

545
00:36:17,950 --> 00:36:19,160
And one idea for making

546
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,580
those hyper-fast spacecraft of the future,

547
00:36:21,580 --> 00:36:24,943
relies on an ancient piece of technology, the sail.

548
00:36:29,070 --> 00:36:32,690
Almost two centuries ago, the power of the wind

549
00:36:32,690 --> 00:36:35,373
carried our ancestors to new worlds.

550
00:36:36,350 --> 00:36:38,720
And it's during this golden age of sail

551
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:42,460
that a brilliant physicist reveals another natural force

552
00:36:42,460 --> 00:36:43,823
that pushes like the wind.

553
00:36:45,060 --> 00:36:48,183
A discovery that could propel us to distant destinations.

554
00:36:54,781 --> 00:36:57,240
(gentle music)

555
00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:01,960
In the 1860s, Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell,

556
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:03,690
is attempting to understand

557
00:37:03,690 --> 00:37:06,593
the link between electricity and magnetism,

558
00:37:07,630 --> 00:37:10,163
when he makes a groundbreaking discovery.

559
00:37:13,010 --> 00:37:17,140
His work shows that although light behaves like a wave,

560
00:37:17,140 --> 00:37:22,140
it consists of tiny packets of energy, call photons.

561
00:37:22,210 --> 00:37:24,770
Maxwell fundamentally changed

562
00:37:24,770 --> 00:37:27,423
the way we understand our universe.

563
00:37:29,270 --> 00:37:31,450
One of the most profound implications

564
00:37:31,450 --> 00:37:36,450
for today's space pioneers is that light can exert force.

565
00:37:38,742 --> 00:37:41,325
(gentle music)

566
00:37:49,220 --> 00:37:51,560
This is a crucial breakthrough in our understanding

567
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,600
of how light works, and NASAs actually using that idea today

568
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:57,870
to build the spacecraft of the future,

569
00:37:57,870 --> 00:37:59,470
which is why I'm all dressed up.

570
00:38:04,460 --> 00:38:08,210
I've come to NASAs Marshall Space FLight Center,

571
00:38:08,210 --> 00:38:11,260
to see how they're using Maxwell's breakthrough

572
00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:13,720
to develop a new way of accelerating us

573
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:17,113
through the solar system, solar sails.

574
00:38:24,070 --> 00:38:27,850
Let's just wrap our heads around light exerting force.

575
00:38:27,850 --> 00:38:28,910
Okay.
<v ->How's that work?

576
00:38:28,910 --> 00:38:31,100
Well, you don't feel it, but on a sunny day,

577
00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:32,940
as the light is reflecting from you,

578
00:38:32,940 --> 00:38:34,500
it's actually pushing on you.

579
00:38:34,500 --> 00:38:36,720
And that's because light is made up of little particles

580
00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:38,920
called photons, but as they reflect from you,

581
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,250
it's just like a wind off a sail, they bounce off,

582
00:38:42,250 --> 00:38:44,140
they impart a little bit of the momentum to you

583
00:38:44,140 --> 00:38:44,973
when they do that,

584
00:38:44,973 --> 00:38:47,240
but it's a very, very small force, you don't feel it.

585
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:49,220
Right, so if it's so small,

586
00:38:49,220 --> 00:38:52,650
how does that help us get deep into space, and go fast?

587
00:38:52,650 --> 00:38:56,450
Well, because in space, as long as the sun is shining,

588
00:38:56,450 --> 00:38:57,790
you've got thrust.

589
00:38:57,790 --> 00:39:00,310
That little bit of acceleration over time

590
00:39:00,310 --> 00:39:01,898
adds up to a large velocity.

591
00:39:01,898 --> 00:39:04,481
(serene music)

592
00:39:05,390 --> 00:39:09,263
Our sun constantly streams photons into space.

593
00:39:10,550 --> 00:39:14,423
These photons gently push when they impact upon objects.

594
00:39:16,340 --> 00:39:20,640
When a photon hits the mirror like surface of a solar sail,

595
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,200
it bounces off, transferring its momentum,

596
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,243
which pushes the sail forward.

597
00:39:29,540 --> 00:39:31,310
So what is the sail actually made out of?

598
00:39:31,310 --> 00:39:32,910
Well it's made out of a plastic,

599
00:39:32,910 --> 00:39:34,550
it's sort of like plastic wrap

600
00:39:34,550 --> 00:39:36,400
that you find in your kitchen.

601
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,260
It's about the thickness of a human hair,

602
00:39:38,260 --> 00:39:40,830
and it's got aluminum on it to make it reflective,

603
00:39:40,830 --> 00:39:43,248
so it reflects the sunlight to make it move.

604
00:39:43,248 --> 00:39:45,790
It's fairly fragile, but more robust than you think.

605
00:39:45,790 --> 00:39:47,540
You can hold it.
Thank you.

606
00:39:48,768 --> 00:39:50,500
It is incredibly light.

607
00:39:50,500 --> 00:39:52,370
If I had my eyes closed,

608
00:39:52,370 --> 00:39:54,220
I'd have no idea that was in my hand.

609
00:39:57,341 --> 00:40:00,680
(dramatic music)

610
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,420
Before using solar sails to take us to other planets,

611
00:40:05,420 --> 00:40:07,423
NASA needs to test their validity.

612
00:40:09,290 --> 00:40:12,863
They're powering an unmanned spacecraft to a distant goal.

613
00:40:16,140 --> 00:40:18,580
The satellite will be launched into orbit

614
00:40:18,580 --> 00:40:20,970
using traditional rockets.

615
00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:24,143
There, it will detach, and deploy its solar sail.

616
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,240
Using sunlight, the sail will provide

617
00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:32,750
an additional boost in speed of about 10,000 miles per hour,

618
00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:35,440
propelling the spacecraft towards its target,

619
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,130
a near Earth astroid.

620
00:40:39,100 --> 00:40:41,890
Providing scientists with a unique opportunity

621
00:40:41,890 --> 00:40:45,280
to observe an asteroid of this size, close up,

622
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,873
and pave the way for future solar sail missions.

623
00:40:52,090 --> 00:40:55,220
This is what the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will look like,

624
00:40:55,220 --> 00:40:56,867
once it gets out into space.

625
00:40:56,867 --> 00:40:59,560
You can see the full width of the spacecraft here,

626
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:03,010
so all this is packaged up, and our sail is within it.

627
00:41:03,010 --> 00:41:04,610
This is a very cool material.

628
00:41:04,610 --> 00:41:07,210
How much of this goes into the solar sail?

629
00:41:07,210 --> 00:41:09,750
Well our solar sail for the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout

630
00:41:09,750 --> 00:41:11,647
is 86 square meters.

631
00:41:11,647 --> 00:41:14,230
(serene music)

632
00:41:21,810 --> 00:41:25,690
By harnessing the constant push of sunlight,

633
00:41:25,690 --> 00:41:28,450
it's thought that solar sail powered craft

634
00:41:28,450 --> 00:41:32,710
could reach speeds of up to 67 million miles an hour.

635
00:41:32,710 --> 00:41:34,683
That's 10% the speed of light.

636
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:38,560
To reach these speeds will take

637
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:41,290
an almighty feat of engineering,

638
00:41:41,290 --> 00:41:45,060
with super light spacecraft, powered by solar sails

639
00:41:45,060 --> 00:41:47,623
stretching hundreds of feet across.

640
00:41:50,470 --> 00:41:53,200
But for traveling beyond our solar system,

641
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,090
solar sails have a fundamental problem.

642
00:41:56,090 --> 00:41:58,913
Acceleration is extremely gradual,

643
00:42:00,170 --> 00:42:03,633
meaning it could take years just to get up to speed.

644
00:42:10,970 --> 00:42:13,183
We need to get faster quicker.

645
00:42:14,152 --> 00:42:16,819
(intense music)

646
00:42:20,410 --> 00:42:24,333
Gs or G-force is a measure of acceleration.

647
00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:28,410
One G is the amount of force we experience

648
00:42:28,410 --> 00:42:29,503
from Earth's gravity.

649
00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:34,880
In modern fighter jets, pilots can be subjected

650
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:37,913
to high Gs simply during flight maneuvers.

651
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,680
But the most extreme Gs are experienced

652
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:46,823
when the pilot has run out of options.

653
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,280
Rocket propelled ejection seats

654
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:56,043
are a tried and tested method of escape.

655
00:42:57,410 --> 00:43:00,803
But they show the hazards of extreme acceleration,

656
00:43:01,810 --> 00:43:03,463
and I'm about to learn why.

657
00:43:07,870 --> 00:43:09,430
I've come to the U.S. Air Force

658
00:43:09,430 --> 00:43:12,890
Biodynamics Research Facility, and I'm pretty excited.

659
00:43:12,890 --> 00:43:16,596
I'm hoping to see something you don't get to see too often.

660
00:43:16,596 --> 00:43:19,513
(mysterious music)

661
00:43:22,050 --> 00:43:25,740
The experiments here are designed to do one thing,

662
00:43:25,740 --> 00:43:28,910
better understand how the human body reacts

663
00:43:28,910 --> 00:43:33,143
to the extreme forces experienced during rapid acceleration.

664
00:43:38,173 --> 00:43:40,490
So what is this guy set up to test right now?

665
00:43:40,490 --> 00:43:44,480
Here we have a mannequin in an actual F-35 ejection seat.

666
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,060
So we're going to be accelerating the seat down the track,

667
00:43:48,060 --> 00:43:49,960
at about 10 Gs which is close

668
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,320
to what a pilot would experience in an actual ejection.

669
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:55,900
From zero to 50 miles an hour

670
00:43:55,900 --> 00:43:57,810
in less than a quarter of a second.

671
00:43:57,810 --> 00:43:59,410
Okay, this guy's gonna do it?

672
00:43:59,410 --> 00:44:01,160
This guy'll do it.

673
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:02,260
Hang in there buddy.

674
00:44:05,020 --> 00:44:08,048
And I'm the guy that gets to push the button.

675
00:44:08,048 --> 00:44:09,660
Systems are on.

676
00:44:09,660 --> 00:44:12,763
'Kay, going to stand-by, going all the way to arm.

677
00:44:14,121 --> 00:44:16,871
(dramatic music)

678
00:44:18,180 --> 00:44:19,230
Starting countdown.

679
00:44:22,435 --> 00:44:24,768
Five, four, three, two, one.

680
00:44:36,870 --> 00:44:39,410
So what happens to a pilot's body,

681
00:44:39,410 --> 00:44:41,180
when he ejects out of a plane?

682
00:44:41,180 --> 00:44:43,503
So during that very small amount of time,

683
00:44:44,660 --> 00:44:48,950
the pilot actually can experience up to 2,000 pounds

684
00:44:48,950 --> 00:44:51,320
of spinal loading, as well as

685
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,463
three to 400 pounds of neck loading.

686
00:44:55,010 --> 00:44:59,380
There's a very real possibility of spinal or neck injury.

687
00:44:59,380 --> 00:45:00,620
And what other parts of the human body

688
00:45:00,620 --> 00:45:02,200
are at risk under those high Gs?

689
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,810
There's also potentially concussions

690
00:45:04,810 --> 00:45:07,620
when you have the severe head flexion.

691
00:45:07,620 --> 00:45:10,570
You also have the potential for limb flail,

692
00:45:10,570 --> 00:45:13,763
at higher air speeds, where the limbs can literally be torn.

693
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:18,540
Right, okay so modern aircraft ejection seats,

694
00:45:18,540 --> 00:45:22,323
spacecraft, these are all applying huge amounts of force.

695
00:45:23,970 --> 00:45:25,810
Seems like the name of the game

696
00:45:25,810 --> 00:45:27,783
is to avoid those fast changes.

697
00:45:28,940 --> 00:45:31,670
Exactly, so it's not so much the what we call

698
00:45:31,670 --> 00:45:35,000
the velocity, but the rate of change of the velocity.

699
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,093
And that's what really causes the injury.

700
00:45:38,490 --> 00:45:41,023
The experiments here have really hit home.

701
00:45:41,870 --> 00:45:44,210
If we want to accelerate in space,

702
00:45:44,210 --> 00:45:48,133
to reach super fast speeds, we'll need to do it slowly.

703
00:45:49,740 --> 00:45:52,333
Potentially adding years to any journey.

704
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:58,400
So, have we hit a major speed bump

705
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:00,360
in our quest to reach the stars and planets

706
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:01,853
beyond our solar system?

707
00:46:05,070 --> 00:46:09,880
Perhaps not, what if, in order to travel great distances,

708
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,251
you didn't have to go fast at all?

709
00:46:12,251 --> 00:46:14,834
(serene music)

710
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:24,610
Not only are we limited

711
00:46:24,610 --> 00:46:27,600
by how fast our bodies can accelerate,

712
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:31,563
we're also limited by the fundamental laws of physics.

713
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,910
The universe has a speed limit, the speed of light,

714
00:46:37,910 --> 00:46:42,910
186,000 miles per second, and nothing can travel faster.

715
00:46:44,420 --> 00:46:47,313
It requires an insurmountable amount of energy.

716
00:46:51,420 --> 00:46:54,360
Okay, so we can't go faster than the speed of light.

717
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:55,193
You can't go faster than the speed of light.

718
00:46:55,193 --> 00:46:56,240
What if we could get close to it,

719
00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:58,260
can we get anywhere if we're going say,

720
00:46:58,260 --> 00:46:59,890
half the speed of light?

721
00:46:59,890 --> 00:47:02,380
Well, even then, just the universe is so big.

722
00:47:02,380 --> 00:47:04,030
It's gonna take a long time to get anywhere.

723
00:47:04,030 --> 00:47:05,640
Nearest star is four light years away,

724
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:06,870
so if we were going at the speed of light,

725
00:47:06,870 --> 00:47:09,094
it would take four years to go there.

726
00:47:09,094 --> 00:47:11,193
Half the speed of light, eight years to get there.

727
00:47:13,210 --> 00:47:15,343
These distances are vast.

728
00:47:16,510 --> 00:47:18,250
Traveling to Proxima b,

729
00:47:18,250 --> 00:47:20,770
our nearest potentially habitable planet,

730
00:47:20,770 --> 00:47:23,680
is equivalent to circumnavigating the Earth

731
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:27,163
almost a billion times.

732
00:47:29,130 --> 00:47:31,730
Even our fastest spaceships would take

733
00:47:31,730 --> 00:47:34,540
thousands of years to get there.

734
00:47:34,540 --> 00:47:38,203
But there may be a way to take a shortcut.

735
00:47:43,350 --> 00:47:45,340
Einstein's theory of relativity tells us

736
00:47:45,340 --> 00:47:50,340
that we might be able to build a tunnel through space,

737
00:47:50,540 --> 00:47:52,360
that connects one point to another.

738
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:53,900
How does that work?

739
00:47:53,900 --> 00:47:55,310
So suppose the surface of this balloon

740
00:47:55,310 --> 00:47:56,980
is the space in our universe.

741
00:47:56,980 --> 00:47:57,850
Okay.

742
00:47:57,850 --> 00:48:00,480
And we wanna go from A to B.

743
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:01,313
Right.

744
00:48:01,313 --> 00:48:02,510
Well, if I can have you hold.

745
00:48:02,510 --> 00:48:04,580
Okay, I've got the universe.

746
00:48:04,580 --> 00:48:06,800
What we could do, theoretically,

747
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:11,136
is we can push those points together.

748
00:48:11,136 --> 00:48:13,719
(serene music)

749
00:48:14,860 --> 00:48:17,173
This idea is extraordinary.

750
00:48:18,750 --> 00:48:21,250
By bending the fabric of the universe,

751
00:48:21,250 --> 00:48:23,323
to bring two points closer together,

752
00:48:25,900 --> 00:48:29,873
we could effectively create a shortcut through space time.

753
00:48:32,663 --> 00:48:34,360
So that's a pretty cool trick.

754
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:35,900
I like it, but in order to pull that off,

755
00:48:35,900 --> 00:48:38,860
you have to be able to warp the shape of the universe.

756
00:48:38,860 --> 00:48:39,693
Yeah.

757
00:48:39,693 --> 00:48:40,526
How do you do that?

758
00:48:40,526 --> 00:48:42,242
For that we need a wormhole.

759
00:48:42,242 --> 00:48:43,860
A wormhole?

760
00:48:43,860 --> 00:48:46,610
(dramatic music)

761
00:49:07,911 --> 00:49:10,213
Alright, how could we build a wormhole?

762
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:12,870
Well, let's take this ball.

763
00:49:12,870 --> 00:49:15,510
This ball is already bending space.

764
00:49:15,510 --> 00:49:16,343
Really?

765
00:49:19,050 --> 00:49:20,460
Just by virtue of being there,

766
00:49:20,460 --> 00:49:22,970
it has mass, it has gravity,

767
00:49:22,970 --> 00:49:24,387
it's already bending space around it.

768
00:49:24,387 --> 00:49:27,070
Right, like all things that have mass and gravity,

769
00:49:27,070 --> 00:49:28,530
you and I, and everything else,

770
00:49:28,530 --> 00:49:30,970
are bending space time a little bit around us.

771
00:49:30,970 --> 00:49:32,440
That's right, just a little bit.

772
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,690
But the more massive we make that ball,

773
00:49:34,690 --> 00:49:36,530
the denser we made that ball,

774
00:49:36,530 --> 00:49:38,770
the more it'll bend the space around it.

775
00:49:38,770 --> 00:49:40,960
And if you were to make the ball, say,

776
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:43,190
a few times the mass of the Earth,

777
00:49:43,190 --> 00:49:45,370
packed into the same size,

778
00:49:45,370 --> 00:49:48,130
then it would punch through space time.

779
00:49:48,130 --> 00:49:50,030
Right, and then what happens?

780
00:49:50,030 --> 00:49:52,247
Then it becomes a black hole.

781
00:49:52,247 --> 00:49:54,830
(serene music)

782
00:49:58,240 --> 00:50:01,710
Now, theoretically, that black hole

783
00:50:01,710 --> 00:50:03,864
could be the entrance to a wormhole.

784
00:50:03,864 --> 00:50:06,760
Okay, I mean it sounds really far fetched,

785
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:11,160
but actually the cool part is that all of that crazy science

786
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:14,220
still fits within the way we know the universe works.

787
00:50:14,220 --> 00:50:15,230
It's all still possible.

788
00:50:15,230 --> 00:50:17,773
That's right, it all fits within Einstein's theory.

789
00:50:22,860 --> 00:50:25,930
(dramatic music)

790
00:50:25,930 --> 00:50:28,943
The potential of wormholes is profound,

791
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:34,123
bringing the whole universe within our reach.

792
00:50:36,170 --> 00:50:40,220
We could travel to Proxima b, or even reach other galaxies

793
00:50:40,220 --> 00:50:42,620
thousands of light years away,

794
00:50:42,620 --> 00:50:46,550
without the need for powerful accelerating rockets.

795
00:50:46,550 --> 00:50:48,813
And, in a fraction of the time.

796
00:50:51,950 --> 00:50:55,873
In other words, wormholes could cheat speed.

797
00:50:59,220 --> 00:51:01,890
Far out ideas, like folding space,

798
00:51:01,890 --> 00:51:03,640
will always have naysayers.

799
00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:05,580
Thankfully, there will always be pioneers,

800
00:51:05,580 --> 00:51:07,070
like Robert Goddard.

801
00:51:07,070 --> 00:51:09,450
Pioneers who are willing to think outside the box,

802
00:51:09,450 --> 00:51:11,550
to go against conventional wisdom.

803
00:51:11,550 --> 00:51:14,080
Pioneers whose tenacity will continue to change

804
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:15,480
the course of human history.

805
00:51:16,931 --> 00:51:19,514
(serene music)

806
00:51:31,092 --> 00:51:33,009
Throughout our history,

807
00:51:34,470 --> 00:51:38,440
mankind's greatest discoveries and achievements

808
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,073
have be intrinsically linked to speed.

809
00:51:47,830 --> 00:51:49,990
Each new leap in speed

810
00:51:49,990 --> 00:51:52,723
has brought our civilization closer together.

811
00:51:55,790 --> 00:51:58,933
Now humanity is on brink of a new era,

812
00:52:02,780 --> 00:52:05,880
where exponential jumps in speed propel us

813
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:08,083
to achieving an age old dream,

814
00:52:11,950 --> 00:52:14,173
traveling to other worlds.

815
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:26,093
And securing the future of our species.

816
00:52:29,427 --> 00:52:32,177
(dramatic music)