- 4 months ago
The International Space Station has been humanity’s home in orbit for decades—but now, NASA and its global partners are preparing for the next giant leap: Gateway. 🌌
In this video, we’ll explore:
How the ISS maintains its balance with powerful gyroscopes 🛰️
Why NASA is building a space station around the Moon instead of Earth 🌙
The role of the Artemis program in sending the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface 👩🚀👨🚀
How Gateway will serve as a pit stop for missions to Mars and beyond 🔭
The future possibilities of lunar colonies, mining rare elements, and space industry 🚀
This is not just science—it’s about humanity’s destiny to explore, survive, and thrive among the stars.
👉 Stay tuned till the end as we uncover why Gateway could be the key to unlocking a future where space is no longer the final frontier, but our next home.
In this video, we’ll explore:
How the ISS maintains its balance with powerful gyroscopes 🛰️
Why NASA is building a space station around the Moon instead of Earth 🌙
The role of the Artemis program in sending the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface 👩🚀👨🚀
How Gateway will serve as a pit stop for missions to Mars and beyond 🔭
The future possibilities of lunar colonies, mining rare elements, and space industry 🚀
This is not just science—it’s about humanity’s destiny to explore, survive, and thrive among the stars.
👉 Stay tuned till the end as we uncover why Gateway could be the key to unlocking a future where space is no longer the final frontier, but our next home.
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TechTranscript
00:00Imagine, two fortresses orbiting above our planet, carrying humanity's dreams into reality.
00:07One of them you surely know, the International Space Station.
00:11But the other, a mysterious, rarely spoken of, yet equally remarkable achievement, Tiangong, or the Heavenly Palace.
00:21Since 2021, this Chinese space fortress has been silently, yet powerfully, making its presence felt above Earth.
00:28But the question is, what's really happening inside it?
00:33And why does Western media so often keep it hidden from view?
00:36When I began digging into its missions and experiments, I was honestly stunned.
00:42Tiangong isn't just another station, it feels like a bold vision of humanity's future.
00:47We all know the ISS is mainly about research that helps humans adapt to space and unlock the secrets of the universe.
00:54But Tiangong's focus is different, not smaller, not limited, but sharper, more ambitious, and far more daring.
01:03So, what exactly is this purpose?
01:06The answer may surprise you.
01:07I'm your host, and you're watching your channel name.
01:11Today, we're opening the doors of the Tiangong Space Station to uncover its hidden secrets,
01:16and to ask how it might reshape not only China's future, but the future of all humanity.
01:25China's journey into space is surprisingly young.
01:28While the ISS has been circling Earth for more than 25 years, China only took its first step in 2011.
01:34That was Tiangong-1, a small, tube-like prototype, just 10 meters long, with living quarters, a laboratory, and a propulsion module for taikonauts.
01:44Compare that to the ISS, which is 10 times larger.
01:49But the beauty of Tiangong-1 lay in its simplicity.
01:53Its mission wasn't to impress the world, but to teach China how to dock spacecraft, master orbital rendezvous, and taste the very first steps of space habitation.
02:05And against the odds, they succeeded.
02:07Over seven years, both manned and unmanned missions proved China was ready to play in the big leagues.
02:14This success fueled their confidence.
02:17In 2016 came Tiangong-2, built not as a permanent home, but as a testbed for technologies needed in the future.
02:25Once it served its purpose, it was de-orbited in 2019.
02:28And then, the path cleared.
02:31For Tiangong-3, today's Tiangong, often simply called the Tiangong, is more than a station.
02:39It is a hub for thousands of experiments.
02:42At its core lies the Tianhe module, where taikonauts live and work.
02:46Attached to it are two powerful science labs, Wentian and Mengtian.
02:52Wentian focuses on the effects of space on life and on medical technologies.
02:56Mengtian studies fluids, combustion, and other physical phenomena in microgravity.
03:03Together, they form a 55-meter-long, 100-ton orbiting laboratory that can host up to six astronauts at a time.
03:11It's smaller than the ISS.
03:13Yes, but piece by piece, module by module.
03:17It was assembled between 2021 and 2022, a feat of precision engineering.
03:23Life aboard Tiangong may sound familiar.
03:26Taikonauts eat from a menu of 120 different foods.
03:30They exercise daily to combat the effects of microgravity.
03:34And they don't just live as scientists.
03:36They also act as teachers.
03:38From space, they connect with schools back on Earth.
03:42Demonstrating things like, how does fire behave in zero gravity?
03:46Or comparing seeds grown on Earth versus seeds grown aboard the station.
03:51But here's where Tiangong's uniqueness truly shines.
03:55Its experiments are guided by five bold themes.
03:59On-orbit assembly and large-scale space construction.
04:03Robotics and autonomous systems.
04:05New energy and propulsion technologies.
04:08Life support and environment control.
04:10Advanced spacecraft technologies.
04:12These aren't just technical buzzwords.
04:15They're a roadmap for the next era of human spaceflight.
04:19One that could carry us far beyond Earth's orbit.
04:23The International Space Station is not just a giant machine floating above us.
04:28It's the single most ambitious engineering puzzle humanity has ever attempted in orbit.
04:33But have you ever wondered, how do you even start building something like this in the emptiness of space?
04:40Where would you begin?
04:41Let's take a journey back to the very first steps of its construction.
04:45The story began in November 1998, when the Russian Zarya module was launched into orbit.
04:51It was a modest beginning, but symbolic.
04:54Three docking ports, solar panels for the first trickle of power, and the promise of something far greater.
05:01Just a month later, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Unity module followed.
05:07When Unity was docked with Zarya, it wasn't just metal connecting to metal.
05:13It was the symbolic handshake.
05:14Of a new global space age, Unity came equipped with pressurized, mating adapters,
05:20devices designed to bridge the gap between Russian and American technology.
05:25And thanks to the shuttle's robotic arm, the heavy 12-ton Unity was carefully lifted and positioned in orbit.
05:32The precision required was nerve-wracking.
05:35Imagine slowly moving a giant floating module while every thruster burn could make or break the connection.
05:42But when it clicked into place, the International Space Station was officially born.
05:47Still, with just two modules, the station was little more than an empty shell.
05:52That changed in July 2000, when Russia launched the Zvezda module.
05:58At last, humanity had living quarters and life support systems in orbit.
06:02Later that year, the Z-1 truss module was added,
06:05setting the foundation for the backbone that would one day hold the station's massive solar wings.
06:12And then came a historic milestone.
06:15In November 2000, the first permanent crew arrived.
06:18Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Krikalev, and Bill Shepard.
06:22Their docking marked the last time the station would ever be empty.
06:26Since that day, human presence in space has been unbroken.
06:30For over two decades, Earth has always had ambassadors living among the stars.
06:36In those early months, the crew worked tirelessly to test the systems,
06:41install equipment, and prepare the station for what it was destined to become.
06:46In April 2001, a game-changing tool arrived aboard the space shuttle,
06:51Canadarm2, a massive robotic arm that could walk across the station
06:56by attaching itself to different power and data points.
07:00This arm became the station's helping hand, moving equipment,
07:04assisting astronauts, and eventually getting its own fingers
07:08when the Dexter manipulator was added years later.
07:11Over the next decade, module after module joined the growing structure,
07:17laboratories from the US, Japan, Europe, and Russia.
07:22By 2009, the final solar arrays were in place,
07:26and the ISS had reached the form we recognize today.
07:30But not every dream made it to orbit.
07:33The tragic Columbia disaster in 2003 forced NASA to cancel some ambitious projects,
07:40including an experimental artificial gravity module.
07:44Imagine what that would have meant,
07:45astronauts spinning in a centrifuge to simulate gravity,
07:49straight out of science fiction.
07:51Sadly, that dream was shelved,
07:54but the ISS still became a testbed for almost everything else.
07:58Life in zero gravity is no ordinary experience.
08:02Muscles weaken, bones lose density,
08:05even the heart begins to shrink.
08:07That's why astronauts aboard the ISS spend hours every day
08:11exercising in their custom-built orbital gym.
08:15And yet, when they return to Earth,
08:17they must literally relearn how to walk.
08:20But it's not just humans who behave differently.
08:23Microbes, too, change in strange and sometimes dangerous ways.
08:27In fact, studies have shown that certain bacteria like salmonella
08:30become more deadly in microgravity.
08:32And fire, something we instinctively understand on Earth,
08:36becomes unpredictable, spreading in all directions,
08:40sometimes even invisible.
08:42A terrifying thought in a fragile orbital habitat.
08:46Even something as simple as boiling water
08:48doesn't work the way it does at home.
08:51Without convection, bubbles form differently,
08:54heat transfer slows, and equipment can malfunction.
08:57These are not small problems.
09:00They are survival questions for anyone hoping to travel deeper into space.
09:05And yet, every strange, counterintuitive result
09:08teaches us something vital.
09:10For example, experiments on cavitation.
09:15Bubbles collapsing in fluids
09:16helped scientists understand supernova explosions.
09:21Yes, that's right.
09:21Tiny experiments aboard the ISS shed light
09:25on the most violent events in the universe.
09:28But the station is not only about life sciences.
09:31It is also home to some of the most powerful physics experiments
09:34ever attempted in orbit.
09:36Take the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer,
09:39bolted to the station's exterior.
09:41NASA calls it as important as Hubble.
09:43It hunts for evidence of dark matter,
09:46scanning particles with energies far greater
09:48than anything we can achieve on Earth.
09:50Inside, NASA's cold atom lab
09:53cools atoms to one millionth of a degree
09:56above absolute zero,
09:58creating bizarre states of matter
10:00that last far longer than they ever could
10:02under Earth's gravity.
10:04With these tools,
10:05scientists can probe the mysteries of quantum mechanics
10:08and even detect gravitational waves
10:10in ranges our Earth-based detectors cannot.
10:14And the ISS also looks down,
10:17studying Earth itself.
10:18The Japanese Kibo module carries advanced instruments
10:22that monitor our climate,
10:23atmosphere, and oceans with unmatched precision.
10:27Using hyperspectral cameras,
10:29it captures the planet in ways invisible to our eyes,
10:32recording the fingerprints of ecosystems
10:34and the effects of climate change in real time.
10:38The ISS, then, is far more than a laboratory.
10:42It is a mirror of humanity's potential.
10:44It shows us what we can achieve when borders dissolve
10:47and cooperation takes over.
10:49For over two decades,
10:51it has united nations once locked in rivalry,
10:55proving that science can be stronger than politics.
10:58But nothing lasts forever.
11:01By the 2030s,
11:02the station's incredible journey will end.
11:05Carefully,
11:05its remains will be guided down into the Pacific Ocean.
11:08But its true legacy will never burn up.
11:12The lessons learned,
11:13the breakthroughs discovered,
11:15and the spirit of collaboration
11:17will fuel the next era of space exploration.
11:20With private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin,
11:25and new projects like the Lunar Gateway
11:27and Orbital Reef already on the horizon,
11:30the ISS was humanity's first great home in the stars.
11:34It may one day fall,
11:36but the path it opened will carry us forward,
11:39further than we ever dreamed.
11:42The International Space Station
11:43is one of humanity's most ambitious projects,
11:47a collaboration that has stretched across decades
11:49and tested the limits of engineering and cooperation.
11:53And yet, in this video,
11:55we've only scratched the surface
11:57of its contributions to science.
11:59If there's a particular aspect of the ISS
12:01you'd like us to explore more deeply,
12:03let us know in the comments below.
12:06But let me leave you with a thought.
12:08Objects in space tend to drift,
12:10tumble, and spin endlessly.
12:12So how does the International Space Station,
12:15a massive structure the size of a football field,
12:18stay upright and stable as it orbits Earth?
12:21The answer isn't just thrusters.
12:23It involves a fascinating piece of physics.
12:26Picture a gyroscope spinning in space.
12:29Because of a phenomenon called precession,
12:31and thanks to Newton's first law,
12:34a gyroscope naturally resists
12:36being knocked off its orientation.
12:38No matter which way you push,
12:40it always tries to hold its position.
12:42The ISS uses this very effect.
12:45Arrays of giant control gyroscopes
12:47counterbalance the station's movements
12:49and keep it properly aligned in orbit.
12:51It's elegant, invisible engineering at work.
12:54Now, you've heard me talk before
12:56about NASA's Artemis program.
12:58The bold plan, not only to return humans to the moon,
13:03but to one day send them to Mars.
13:06A key part of this plan is Gateway,
13:09a space station unlike any we've built before.
13:12This won't orbit Earth.
13:14Instead, it will orbit the moon,
13:16and like the ISS,
13:17it's being developed by multiple space agencies.
13:20NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, JAXA, and CSA.
13:25But why put a station around the moon?
13:29How will it function?
13:30And what role does it play in humanity's future?
13:33I'm Alex McCohan, and you're watching Astrom.
13:36In this video, we'll dive into the Gateway mission
13:39and uncover why it's such a crucial stepping stone
13:42for NASA's greatest ambitions.
13:44This video is also a special collaboration
13:47with the Robotitis channel
13:49and our own Astrom's Spanish channel.
13:52If you're a Spanish speaker,
13:53you'll find links to both in the description below.
13:56Gateway's story begins with NASA's SLS,
14:00the Space Launch System.
14:02This is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built,
14:05even stronger than the legendary Saturn family
14:07that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon.
14:10The SLS is colossal.
14:12It's designed to carry over 130 tons into low-Earth orbit
14:16and still deliver hefty payloads even farther into space.
14:21That power is necessary
14:22because sending humans into deep space
14:25isn't like sending robots.
14:27Robots need little fuel, no food, no water.
14:30Humans, however, require air, shelter, supplies,
14:33protection from radiation.
14:35And all of that adds up in weight.
14:37The SLS is built to launch the Orion crew capsule, cargo,
14:42and the modular components of Gateway itself.
14:45But there's a catch.
14:47Unlike SpaceX rockets that use reusable boosters,
14:51each SLS launch is disposable and staggeringly expensive.
14:55Some estimates put the cost at around 2 bare billion per launch.
14:59That's why critics have opposed it for years.
15:02Still, despite the controversy,
15:04NASA is fully committed,
15:05and its first major voyages are imminent.
15:09Whatever the costs,
15:11the SLS will unleash unprecedented power.
15:14A single launch could deliver around 45 tons to Mars.
15:19Its first missions will focus on delivering the Orion capsule,
15:23a next-generation spacecraft designed to bring astronauts safely to space and back,
15:29complete with a robust heat shield and parachutes for re-entry.
15:32Orion, combined with Gateway,
15:36forms the backbone of Artemis.
15:38But Gateway won't appear overnight.
15:40Like the ISS, it will be built piece by piece.
15:43NASA expects the first modules,
15:45the power and propulsion systems,
15:47to be in place by the mid-2020s.
15:50Then will come Halo,
15:51a basic habitat module
15:53that can host four astronauts for about 30 days.
15:56Over time,
15:57more pieces can be added,
15:59expanding Gateway's capacity for future missions.
16:03During Gateway's construction,
16:05NASA will also send a rover to the moon's south pole.
16:09Its mission,
16:10map out the water ice hidden in permanently-shadowed craters.
16:14Why does this matter?
16:16Because water is survival.
16:17It can be purified for drinking,
16:19split into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel,
16:22and used to grow food.
16:24If we can access these reserves,
16:26the south pole could one day host a lunar settlement.
16:30But the rover's mission will be risky.
16:33Inside those dark craters,
16:34no sunlight reaches.
16:36The rover will need to venture in on battery power alone,
16:39finish its job,
16:41and climb back out before its systems die.
16:44Only then can its solar panels recharge in sunlight.
16:47This challenge is so great
16:48that NASA is running a design contest
16:50to select the rover from competing companies.
16:53Once Gateway is operational,
16:56Artemis 3 will launch.
16:58Using the Orion capsule,
16:59a crew will dock with Gateway
17:01and prepare for something extraordinary.
17:04A return to the lunar surface.
17:06Two astronauts will remain on Gateway,
17:09while two will descend to the moon's south pole,
17:12spending about a week on the surface.
17:14Among them could be the first-ever woman to walk on the moon.
17:17Their upgraded spacesuits will give them far more flexibility
17:22than the stiff Apollo suits of the 1960s,
17:25allowing for smoother movement and exploration.
17:29Thanks to better mobility and high-definition cameras,
17:32we can expect breathtaking footage of astronauts walking,
17:36working,
17:37and exploring the moon like never before.
17:40But Artemis doesn't end there.
17:43NASA's long-term vision includes building a permanent lunar base.
17:48Imagine.
17:49Oxygen production systems,
17:51water recycling,
17:52greenhouses for growing plants,
17:54and shelters that protect astronauts for months or even years.
17:58Everything learned there,
18:00so close to Earth,
18:02will help prepare humanity for the ultimate leap.
18:05Mars.
18:06There are economic angles, too.
18:08The moon may hold valuable resources like helium-3,
18:11a rare isotope that could fuel future nuclear fusion reactors.
18:16At one point,
18:17helium-3 was valued at nearly $2,000 per gram.
18:21The moon's low gravity could also make it an ideal site
18:24for manufacturing materials,
18:26like metal foams,
18:27that are difficult to produce on Earth.
18:31With a simple magnetic launch system,
18:33these resources could be sent back to Earth
18:35or into lunar orbit to support future missions.
18:39Looking even further ahead,
18:41Gateway will serve as a hub for lunar expeditions
18:43and a launch pad for Mars.
18:46Artemis 3 will be followed by multiple missions
18:48that continue expanding our presence on and around the moon.
18:53NASA aims for Mars in the 2030s,
18:56but much will depend on budgets,
18:59political will,
19:00and the success of these early missions.
19:02And here's the twist.
19:04NASA isn't alone anymore.
19:07China is pushing forward with its own space ambitions,
19:10including its Tiangong space station and plans for the moon.
19:13What we may be witnessing is the start of a new space race.
19:19Not of Cold War rivalry,
19:21but of competing visions for the future of humanity in space.
19:25Science,
19:26economics,
19:27even military strategy.
19:29All of these threads weave together in this story.
19:32Gateway is not just a pit stop in space.
19:34It's a symbol of our determination
19:37to leave Earth's cradle and set foot on worlds beyond.
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