- 12 hours ago
This video explores two fascinating aspects of space exploration: first, it delves into the intriguing topic of how astronauts sleep in the unique environments of space, followed by an exploration of the theoretical question of the number of people needed to colonize another solar system. Join us on this journey through the cosmos to uncover the challenges and possibilities of human habitation beyond Earth's boundaries.
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00:00When you think of astronauts going to space, you probably imagine those cool things they can do up there.
00:05First of all, it's flying like a superhero all the time.
00:09Astronauts hold onto rails and use their arm strength to move among modules.
00:13It probably takes some time to get used to this way of moving around,
00:16but in a couple of months in space, they can become real acrobats.
00:20They also read books, watch movies, or take awesome pictures of Earth through the cupola windows,
00:24which is a special viewing area on the space station.
00:27They also invent new games.
00:30Like the one where they try to hit a target,
00:31or where they race one another from one end of the station to the other as fast as they can.
00:36And zero-gravity sports must be so cool.
00:39Imagine playing soccer up there.
00:40It's the only way I'd ever be able to do a bicycle kick properly.
00:43It's cool how they eat or try to catch a bite from a floating spoon.
00:47But besides all these fun things, they need to sleep too.
00:51And that's not so easy in space.
00:53Not having gravity can be cool when you fool around and fly across your chamber.
00:57But it's definitely not that great when you're tired and can't wait for your head to hit the pillow.
01:02Because in space, that won't happen.
01:05Instead, astronauts have to sleep in small sleeping bags attached to the wall.
01:10This way they won't float around or potentially bump into things while they're sleeping.
01:14No sleepwalkers up there.
01:15Only sleep floaters.
01:17Astronauts orbited our home planet a whopping 17 times in a spacecraft,
01:21proving humans could live, work, and sleep in space.
01:25But just because it's possible doesn't mean it's easy.
01:28Some astronauts describe their space capsule as a small garbage can,
01:31and the cabin itself is about the size of the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle.
01:36Sleeping in space is very different from sleeping on Earth, to say the least.
01:40There is no up or down in space, so astronauts can choose any position they find comfortable.
01:45On the International Space Station, sleeping quarters are about the size of a phone booth.
01:49It's a tight space, and it doesn't look as cool as the rest of the things up there.
01:54But they make it work.
01:56Astronauts have to sleep near an air vent to make sure they have good ventilation.
02:00Breathing is trickier in space,
02:02because the carbon dioxide they breathe out can form a bubble around their heads,
02:06which can be problematic, since they may not get enough oxygen.
02:11Astronauts cover up windows to block out sunlight, and may wear sleep masks,
02:15just like some people on Earth do to block out light.
02:18The sun in space can be really bright, even with window shades,
02:21because there's no atmosphere to filter sunlight.
02:23Oh, those things we take for granted down here.
02:26Also, the space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes,
02:29so astronauts get to see a new sunrise every hour and a half.
02:32The station can be noisy, too, since they have all those fans and other equipment,
02:37so astronauts sometimes wear earplugs to help them sleep.
02:40We all become grumpy if we don't get enough sleep, with or without gravity.
02:44Not just that.
02:45A lack of sleep can affect our blood pressure, immune system, balance, and health in general.
02:50And it's way trickier when you're not feeling well up there than on Earth.
02:54NASA schedules its astronauts for about 8 to 8.5 hours of sleep per day.
02:58But those who work on the ISS, on average, go with 6 hours of sleep,
03:03because the space environment can disrupt their natural sleep patterns.
03:06That's why it's not so unusual to have insomnia and sleep deprivation when in space.
03:12Astronauts sometimes have changes in their schedules.
03:14They have to work long shifts or finish tasks assigned at night.
03:18All this works against good sleep.
03:21That's why NASA has sleep education,
03:23and promotes special relaxation techniques to help crew members sleep better.
03:28Dreams and nightmares are as common in space as they are on Earth.
03:31You just can't get away from your mind making up different scenarios while you're sleeping.
03:36And you know that feeling when you first wake up all groggy and sluggish?
03:39It's like your body and brain are still trying to catch up and fully wake up.
03:43You might feel a little bit disoriented,
03:45plus it might be hard for you to think clearly or move quickly.
03:48It's called sleep inertia.
03:50This feeling usually goes away after a little while.
03:52But it's probably way harder to get rid of it in space because many astronauts have issues with it.
03:58And even if you had perfect conditions for sleep,
04:01just being in space would probably disrupt your body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
04:05Two things regulate this cycle,
04:07the S-process and circadian rhythms.
04:10The S-process controls whether we are asleep or awake throughout the day.
04:14In space, your body gets less deep sleep,
04:16which means it goes through some changes in the S-process.
04:20Circadian rhythms help regulate our internal body clock as well.
04:24In space, where such cues as exposure to light and darkness are a complete mess,
04:29you can't simply set your alarm clock at 7 a.m. every morning.
04:33Hmm, at least up there I'd have a good excuse for not doing this.
04:37To help astronauts adjust,
04:39NASA has added special lighting inside the space station,
04:42which mimics a regular day on Earth.
04:44They try to block out outside light at night
04:47and provide enough light during the day
04:48to help astronauts stay awake and sleep at the right times as much as possible.
04:52Astronauts need to be careful not to get exposed to blue light from electronic devices
04:56because that disrupts sleep too.
04:58Hmm, that tip sounds familiar.
05:01We need to figure out as many tricks as possible to get better sleep
05:04because we don't want to go on a mission to Mars
05:06and come to our potential new home all grumpy and moody.
05:09Plus, people who will go on these special space missions
05:12won't have as much space as astronauts on the ISS.
05:15Their quarters may not be like the comfortable bedrooms they have back on Earth,
05:19but they will still be dark, quiet, and best of all, private.
05:24At the same time, say goodbye to privacy on your way to the moon.
05:28On such missions, there will be less space for crew members to sleep.
05:32It will be like camping with your friends, but with not enough tents.
05:37And imagine jet lag in space.
05:39It usually hits astronauts even before they get to the space station.
05:43To help with this, they start adjusting their sleep schedules a few days before they launch into space.
05:48They change their sleeping and waking times to match the time of day and time zone of their launch location.
05:54Once they reach the space station, where astronauts from different countries work together,
05:58they all switch to using a common time called Greenwich Mean Time, GMT.
06:04This helps everyone synchronize their schedules because it's a middle ground time
06:07that can be easily understood by people from different parts of the world.
06:10So to help crew members have better sleep, scientists have simulated space missions on Earth.
06:16They have a special habitat called HERA at Johnson Space Center,
06:20which is almost the same size as a lunar base or spacecraft.
06:24Crews live there for certain periods, and researchers study their sleep patterns and performance.
06:29NASA is planning a cool experiment called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, CHAPEA.
06:35The first mission is supposed to start soon with four crew members,
06:40a commander, a medical officer, a flight engineer, and a science officer,
06:45living in a habitat called Mars Dune Alpha at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
06:50They will live in the 3D-printed habitat and exercise, cook, clean, do other things,
06:56and collect data just like they would on the Red Planet.
06:58I mean, we still have a decade or two till the first human missions on Mars,
07:02but we better hurry and prepare well.
07:04For decades now, people have been dreaming of exploring space.
07:07And since the year 2000, there has indeed been a continuous presence of people in space.
07:13And recently, a new record has been set.
07:16Just a couple of weeks ago, there were 17 people from five different countries in Earth's orbit at the same
07:22time.
07:23The previous record was set in September 2021 during the privately funded Inspiration4 mission.
07:29At that time, the number of people in orbit reached 14.
07:32So, let's see.
07:34Just recently, three more people have arrived at China's Tiangong Space Station.
07:39There were three more astronauts aboard the same station.
07:42But they've been there since November 2022 and are supposed to return back to Earth in June.
07:48Then, there are seven people on board the International Space Station.
07:51And four more departed the ISS aboard SpaceX's crew dragon named Freedom.
07:57They successfully returned to Earth on the 30th of May 2023, leaving 13 people in orbit.
08:04Interestingly, the current record also includes the 600th person to get into Earth's orbit.
08:10Specialist Rehanna Barnai from Axe-2 mission became a space traveler number 600, as well as the first Saudi woman
08:18in space.
08:18But I've got something even more exciting to tell you.
08:22Oh, my.
08:23The record for most people in space, and just not in Earth's orbit, was reset not so long ago, too.
08:29But it lasted for a mere five minutes or so.
08:33But during this short period of time, there were 20 people off the planet.
08:37This record was set when six members of the Virgin Galactic Unity 25 Spaceship 2 crew happened to be in
08:44space at the same time as three Chinese Taikonauts living and working aboard Taigon and 11 astronauts on board the
08:52International Space Station.
08:53Now, that's getting crowded.
08:55Well, the International Space Station has always hosted the majority of space travelers from Earth.
09:00But I bet there are some cool facts about this marvel of technological development you haven't heard yet.
09:06The ISS is the third brightest object in the night sky.
09:10And the coolest thing?
09:12You can sign up for a special service, and you'll get a text every time the ISS travels over your
09:18location and is visible with the unaided eye.
09:21I've seen it dozens of times myself, and it's very, very cool.
09:25Normally, you can see it between dusk and dawn.
09:28But be ready, because the station is very fast.
09:30It moves at a speed of 5 miles per second and circles our planet every 90 minutes.
09:36The International Space Station is a true record-breaker.
09:39It's the largest human-made object in space.
09:42It's 357 feet long from end to end, which is about the same length as a soccer field.
09:48It also weighs about 450 tons.
09:52Eight spacecraft can dock at the ISS at the same time.
09:55The working and living space of the station is bigger than a six-bedroom house.
09:59Astronauts have six sleeping quarters, a gym, two bathrooms, and a beautiful 360-degree view from their special bay window.
10:08Now to the nitty-gritty.
10:10On the ISS, you wouldn't have to deal with lots of disgusting smells.
10:15There is a specially trained person who smells everything astronauts take with them in space.
10:20It's done to protect them from unpleasant odors.
10:22The thing is that you can't really air the room out there if you don't like how it smells inside.
10:28That's why NASA is very careful about what kinds of smells are allowed to pass through.
10:33You'd also have to get rid of your clothes instead of washing them after each use.
10:38To bring a mere one pound of load to the International Space Station costs up to $10,000.
10:44That's why it's easier to throw your clothes away when they get dirty than to waste water washing them.
10:49Now, while sleeping, you'd have exceptionally good airflow around you.
10:54Otherwise, the carbon dioxide you'd exhale would form a bubble around your head, and you'd get oxygen-deprived.
11:01And that's not good.
11:02Now, people often think that in space, you experience zero gravity.
11:06Hence, the weightlessness astronauts feel on the International Space Station.
11:10But that's not exactly true.
11:13Gravity is one of the most important forces that exist in the universe.
11:16Thanks to it, the moon can orbit Earth, and the sun doesn't float away from our home Milky Way galaxy.
11:23But astronauts on the ISS experience not full-fledged but microgravity, which means itsy-bitsy gravity.
11:31Earth's gravity on the space station is not only around 10-12% weaker than the gravity on the planet's
11:37surface.
11:38But astronauts are constantly in freefall.
11:41The spacecraft, the people inside, and all the objects aboard keep falling forward, not down, but around our planet, following
11:49a specific orbit.
11:50And since they're all falling together, the crew and the stuff inside seem to be floating.
11:56But our space exploration plans are much more ambitious than just orbiting our planet on board the ISS.
12:02We're planning to send a mission to the moon and build a colony on Mars.
12:07Some experts claim that in the next 25 years, around 20,000 people are likely to leave Earth.
12:13But how many people would it take to colonize an entire star system?
12:17In 2002, anthropologist John Moore from the University of Florida stated that a spaceship with 150 passengers could leave Earth
12:27and set off on a several thousand years' journey to another star system.
12:31And upon arrival, the descendants of the original crew could build settlements in a new world.
12:37That seems like a lot of work to me.
12:39Let's continue.
12:40The nearest star system, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light-years away from our home planet.
12:46Talking about space, it's just next door.
12:49But for us, it's so far that we would need to build a generational spaceship to get us there.
12:56But the question is, how many people you'd need to send on such a mission to have enough genetic diversity?
13:02A new study disagrees with John Moore, claiming it must be way more than 150 people.
13:08According to a scientist from Portland State University,
13:11A spaceship traveling to such a distant world would have to carry at least 10,000 people.
13:17This number might secure the success of the mission.
13:2040,000 people would be even better.
13:22Who knows what could happen to the travelers during such a challenging and unprecedented journey.
13:28At the moment, NASA isn't ready to send humans even to Mars, let alone a distant solar system.
13:33But a few private organizations are working on this project.
13:38They hope to make interstellar trips possible in the next century.
13:42They count on a huge increase in propulsion speed,
13:45which could potentially reduce the travel time between stars to a mere few hundred years.
13:51Researchers have built several simulations to figure out how many various scenarios could play out
13:56during such an interstellar mission.
13:58And they have come to the conclusion that the success of this mission would greatly depend on the size of
14:04the starting population.
14:06Genetic diversity would keep the travelers healthy.
14:09The larger the population is, the more diversity it has.
14:12And 150 people is definitely not enough to maintain genetic variations.
14:18Even a population of 500 people wouldn't be sufficient enough.
14:22At the same time, if we sent to another solar system 40,000 people, we'd be able to maintain 100
14:29% of the variation.
14:30Even 10,000 travelers would make the scenario relatively stable.
14:34Which means that any number between 10 and 40,000 people would be a pretty safe bet.
14:40But of course, we wouldn't be able to send so many people in space in just one spaceship.
14:45We'd have to build many and spread people among them.
14:48These ships could be modular, able to dock together for trade and some social gatherings.
14:53For the genetic variety, I'm guessing.
14:56But they would travel separately, so that if some disaster struck one of them, the rest would remain unharmed.
15:02But to make interstellar travel possible, researchers and engineers will have to overcome loads of obstacles.
15:09We still need to increase propulsion speed, deal with the negative health effects of living in space,
15:15and invent self-sustaining systems providing air, water, and food.
15:19Or we could just decide to fix our own planet and stay home.
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