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Check out more interesting things about space and planets!
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00:00So tonight, go out and look at the moon through a telescope, and you'll see many craters.
00:05No one still knows how they appeared there.
00:07Some of them have formed recently.
00:09Scientists have discovered a double crater on the moon that appeared for a strange reason.
00:14In March, a rocket crashed into the moon, and no one knows who owned it and why it left such
00:21a trail.
00:22If a regular rocket had fallen there, it would have left one hole.
00:26A standard space rocket has a heavy engine on one side and a lighter fuel tank on the other.
00:31But this time, there had to be two heavy sides on one rocket to leave a double crater.
00:37That's strange.
00:38No one knows what it is, and no one has claimed to be the owner.
00:42It was probably part of a large three-ton rocket.
00:45This piece had been flying in space for several years.
00:49At first, astronomers thought it belonged to SpaceX, but the company denied this claim.
00:54Also, they thought that China had launched the rocket.
00:57But this was also wrong.
00:59In the near future, NASA experts hope to find out the truth.
01:03The problem with tracking such rockets and space debris is that this is quite expensive.
01:09Companies don't want to spend too much money on it.
01:11But soon, this will change.
01:13People will have to spend billions of dollars to monitor garbage or destroy it,
01:18since it's getting too crowded in space.
01:21Space companies will have to solve this problem.
01:24As it poses a serious danger to satellites and spacecraft.
01:27Just take a look.
01:29There are millions of pieces of satellites and rockets flying in space.
01:33Some of them are the size of a basketball.
01:35Others are as tiny as a raindrop.
01:38The total weight of all this debris is about 9,000 tons.
01:42This is almost 2,000 tons heavier than the Eiffel Tower.
01:46Okay, all this garbage is floating there.
01:49So what?
01:50The problem is that it's not just floating.
01:52It's moving at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
01:56A tennis ball will fall apart into several pieces at such a speed on the surface of our planet because
02:02of air resistance.
02:03But there's no air in space.
02:05Nothing prevents a tiny piece of metal from reaching a speed 20 times faster than the speed of sound.
02:11A piece of paint at this speed can easily damage the casing of a spaceship.
02:16Once, several shuttle portholes were replaced because of the damage caused by flying chunks of paint.
02:22Now imagine what a piece of metal the size of a basketball can do to a spaceship.
02:27It could bring down the International Space Station.
02:31Many satellites were destroyed by space debris that crashed into them.
02:35And when those satellites exploded, they burst into thousands of small parts,
02:39which also turned into dangerous flying objects.
02:43For example, in 1996, a fragment of a rocket damaged 10 years earlier crashed into a French satellite.
02:50In 2009, a failed spacecraft destroyed another commercial ship.
02:55As a result of the collision, about 2,300 tracked fragments appeared, as well as lots of tiny untracked ones.
03:03Today, satellite operators receive warnings about potential collisions with space debris.
03:08But these messages are often either inaccurate or reach the operators too late.
03:14Imagine that a screw is flying at great speed toward your satellite.
03:18You'll hardly have time to dodge it.
03:20Perhaps it won't hit your satellite at all.
03:23This uncertainty makes these warning sensors useless.
03:26The problem becomes much more serious when it concerns the ISS crew members.
03:31A durable spacesuit can't guarantee protection from flying debris.
03:35And the station itself is too large to save itself from big objects by dodging.
03:41To keep astronauts safe, scientists have a catalogue of things that are the size of softballs or bigger.
03:48Next, they use the pizza box method to dodge garbage.
03:52This is the unofficial name for an imaginary square that is used to calculate the risks of a collision with
03:58space debris.
03:59So, imagine a giant pizza box.
04:02It is 2.5 miles deep, 30 miles wide, and 30 miles long.
04:06Now, put the entire International Space Station in this box.
04:10Yeah, okay, you can have it with pepperoni.
04:13Anyway, if some space object is heading toward the edge of the box, the crew will begin to develop a
04:19plan of action.
04:20The box's radius is quite large compared to the station, since it's difficult to calculate the debris's trajectory.
04:27If there's a chance that something might approach the box, then it can also damage the station.
04:33When operators receive a signal about approaching debris, they analyze it.
04:37Depending on the data received, the crew begins to act in a certain way.
04:41If it's something small and heading for some part of the ISS, the astronauts should evacuate from this part.
04:48And after that, they'll do repairs there.
04:50If something big is approaching, the entire station can perform an evasive maneuver with the help of the engines or
04:57a docked spacecraft.
04:59One such trick required about five hours of hard work.
05:02The station is a big, clumsy ship, so it's important to know about the threat in advance.
05:08From 1999 to 2020, the ISS made 29 maneuvers to avoid collisions.
05:15Three of them occurred in 2020.
05:17And there will be more since the amount of garbage increases.
05:21If some object is too big and fast and can damage critical components, and it's impossible to dodge, the entire
05:27crew will have to evacuate.
05:29In the future, NASA and other space agencies will have to think about how to destroy this debris or remove
05:36it from orbit.
05:37One option is catching everything with extensive space nets.
05:41One agency suggested developing a solar sail that clings to debris and propels it to a low orbit.
05:48Another wanted to use an electrodynamic cable to slow down the speed of space debris with the current.
05:54This maneuver will cause space garbage to move toward the surface of Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
06:00But what if one of these pieces still reaches the ground?
06:04Even now, many satellite parts fall on Earth.
06:07Fortunately, this is not so dangerous.
06:09The probability of cosmic garbage falling on your house is minimal.
06:14In addition, 70% of our planet is covered with water.
06:18Of the remaining 30%, only 3 to 10% are occupied by people.
06:22Almost all space debris falls into the ocean or unpopulated parts of dry land.
06:28But let's say some part of a satellite damages your property.
06:32In that case, the company that owns this space object will cover the losses.
06:37Such cases are rare and occur because of accidents in orbit.
06:41But sometimes, companies intentionally abandon their satellites.
06:44If a spacecraft is out of order, they turn it off and use the remaining fuel to slow it out
06:50of orbit and drop it in a safe place.
06:53Almost all such objects fall in the region of the spacecraft's cemetery.
06:57It's located at the most remote point on Earth, Point Nemo.
07:01It's in the southern Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand.
07:05The nearest island is more than 1,000 miles away.
07:08The distance to the International Space Station is much smaller.
07:11It's challenging to get to this place since no ships travel there.
07:15That's why most satellites end up in that area.
07:19It looks like an endless sea.
07:21The ocean there absorbs explosive waves of any power without consequences.
07:26Even if some fallen ship or rocket causes a giant wave, it dissipates long before it reaches dry land.
07:33Fish and other marine creatures are also not at risk.
07:36Point Nemo is one of the least inhabited areas on Earth.
07:39Underwater currents carry nutrients through the ocean.
07:43And tiny living creatures, such as photoplankton and other organisms, feed on them.
07:48But these currents don't reach Point Nemo.
07:51Another way to deliver nutrients in the ocean is wind.
07:55But there's almost no wind at Point Nemo.
07:58This place doesn't have enough food to let large life forms develop.
08:01Just imagine how lonely and silent it is there.
08:05Sometimes, a broken rocket breaks the silence, crashing into the water at great speed and descending to the seabed, where
08:12thousands of other satellites are waiting to welcome it.
08:16Hey, ever wanted to taste a salad from space?
08:20Well, you might be able to one day.
08:22Scientists have taken soil from the moon and successfully grown plants in it.
08:26Back in the late 60s and early 70s, it was the first time in our history we set foot on
08:32a surface that wasn't Earth.
08:33During the several trips to the moon in the Apollo program, astronomers brought back some rocks and soil to study.
08:40The researchers named the lunar soil regolith and used the seeds of a particular plant called the-b-b-b
08:47-b-b-b, you can read it here, which is found in Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa.
08:53They crossed their fingers, not knowing what would happen.
08:55The only thing they did know was that the lunar soil was too poor in nutrients to sustain any plants.
09:02So, they created a lunar soil stimulant, made from volcanic ash, to replace the real lunar soil and went to
09:09work.
09:10Since they needed two separate experiments, they planted the seeds in Earth soil.
09:14It was a controlled experiment.
09:16They also planted some seeds in the lunar soil as the variable.
09:20They were very careful and used a single gram of lunar soil for the experiment.
09:25To their surprise, it only took two days to see little green leaves and six days for them to be
09:31properly visible.
09:32But sadly, after day six, the lunar soil plants stopped growing.
09:37The soil wasn't enough to provide the needed nutrients for the plant to thrive.
09:41The seeds in the soil from Earth, however, grew lavishly.
09:45But not all was lost.
09:47Even though the lunar plants didn't continue growing, they survived and were harvested 20 days later.
09:52Sadly, they still didn't produce a yummy space salad.
09:57The scientists then studied the biological form of the plants and found out that the lunar plants were developing under
10:03a lot of stress,
10:04as if they were growing in a harsh environment, compared to their counterparts in the regular Earth soil.
10:10Either way, the study was a huge success.
10:13It was the first step in growing food in the soil that wasn't from Earth.
10:17NASA planned on a new moon landing in 2024.
10:21But due to some complications, it was pushed back to 2026.
10:26This will be the first time a person sets foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
10:32The next moon landing mission will allow us to collect more lunar soil samples to experiment with other crops
10:38and see which ones can live longer.
10:41Lunar soil, in its natural state, is far from the quality soil we have on Earth.
10:46But we might find a way to reduce the stress plants growing in it have to endure.
10:52Perhaps it'll let plants develop in similar conditions they would have in a proper natural setting.
10:57There might be other materials on the moon that can help plants grow healthy.
11:01The mission will be under the Artemis program.
11:04Elon Musk's SpaceX has been commissioned to build the lunar landing vehicle.
11:09At first, they will launch a test flight lasting about three weeks
11:13and then send astronauts to land at the moon's south pole.
11:17Because that section is untouched by sunlight,
11:20scientists believe there might be water ice craters there that can be used to make rocket fuel.
11:25It would lower the cost of future moon expeditions,
11:28since fuel wouldn't have to be imported from Earth.
11:31Besides potentially growing plants in lunar soil,
11:34using water ice from the craters as fuel would be another way of making the moon self-sufficient for space
11:40exploration.
11:41Now, Mars would be one of the most difficult places to migrate to
11:45when you consider how Earth sustains life.
11:48But scientists believe that with the right engineering and living conditions,
11:52Mars can potentially become our new home.
11:55The red planet has a very similar force of gravity to that on Earth,
11:59which means that constructing buildings with proper infrastructure wouldn't be much of a problem.
12:04Our biological clocks wouldn't be too affected either,
12:07since a day on Mars is roughly 40 minutes longer than on Earth.
12:12Elon Musk plans on sending out robots to test the conditions on Mars
12:16before humans set foot there.
12:18These robots will be humanoids, mimicking the way people walk and move.
12:23They must be built in a special way to test how the conditions on Mars
12:27would affect us physiologically.
12:29These robots can also start constructing buildings for people to live and work in.
12:33We would have to be tremendously advanced in our agricultural innovations
12:37to grow crops in hostile environments.
12:40Despite being called the red planet, Mars is actually chilly.
12:44So we'd have to build giant dome-like structures to house a human population.
12:49They'd need to be self-sufficient enough not to have to rely on Earth's natural resources.
12:54These domes would protect us from harsh sandstorms and sub-temperatures.
12:59Now, a mission of Mars might not happen in our lifetime.
13:02But at the moment, we can take the first steps.
13:05Since we've found out that we can use lunar soil to grow something,
13:09the next step is to understand more about the process.
13:12We won't be living on the Moon anytime soon,
13:14so we can use the studies of lunar soil to help us solve some problems on Earth.
13:19Countries like India are adapting smart farming that uses robots to speed up the process.
13:25Some robots are designed for seeding, harvesting, watering, and other tasks.
13:30Robotic manufacturers are in high demand now.
13:33They produce unique machines like self-automated tractors and aerial vehicles
13:38that can hover over fields and water crops.
13:40This form of farming will increase productivity and reduce overall costs.
13:45It will also help save water by studying the exact volume crops need.
13:50A cool, innovative way of farming is vertical farming,
13:53which can be done in heavily populated cities.
13:56You can practically use any abandoned warehouse or building to do it.
14:00It recycles water used at the top of a vertical farm.
14:04It drips to lower levels and is then used again.
14:06The farmers stack plants in vertical beds for the water to drip easily.
14:11They also use both natural and artificial light.
14:14These farms are usually soil-free.
14:17Instead, plant roots remain in a nutrient-rich solution that is constantly monitored.
14:22This method is cost-efficient and supplies plants with the exact amount of nutrients they need.
14:28Other vertical farms use ponds with fish living at the bottom.
14:32These fish produce waste that is very rich in nutrients.
14:35Plants can use it as food.
14:38Vertical farms are growing more popular and may soon replace traditional farming.
14:43Vertical farming will allow farmers to grow almost 10 times the amount of produce than a plain field.
14:48All because they utilize the space above and below.
14:52You don't have to worry about little critters on the ground stealing your crops.
14:56You should only worry about flying ones.
14:59Indoor farming is becoming very popular.
15:01Crops growing outdoors always face natural hazards that can damage them.
15:06But with indoor farming, we won't have to rely on seasons to grow certain crops.
15:11Indoor farms can replicate the conditions of all climates.
15:14And we can have any fruit or veggie at any season.
15:18There's also genome-altering to make every crop the best of the best.
15:22It'll eliminate any bad seeds, literally.
15:25We won't have to waste tons of crops that aren't suitable for consumption.
15:29They can have extra nutrients and be healthier.
15:32All of these methods are just the first few steps before we begin with space agriculture on planets with hostile
15:38environments.
15:39Growing plants in space isn't something new.
15:42The International Space Station has an array of specialized gardens for growing veggies.
15:47Scientists are studying growing crops and plants in zero gravity, which can provide fresh food for astronauts.
15:54They use LED lights above plants to accelerate their growth and install proper watering mechanisms.
16:00This might be useful for a handful of astronauts at the International Space Station.
16:05But what if we were traveling across the galaxy to populate new planets?
16:10Well, we'd have to consider a large space dedicated to indoor farming.
16:14On the other hand, technology is likely to improve so much by then that we won't even need veggies and
16:21fruits in our daily diet.
16:22There might be other yummy alternative stuff to munch on.
16:25But, hey, I'd rather have that space salad, please.
16:29Um, do you have any croutons?
16:31Now, did you know that there's an astronomical object in which space and time actually swap places?
16:37How does that work?
16:39And what exactly does swapping space and time mean?
16:42Well, let's figure it out.
16:44Imagine that you're on a spacecraft.
16:46The vehicle can only move straight.
16:48Your path leads to some inevitable point, and you have no idea what lies ahead.
16:54You can only hope that it won't be too bad.
16:57Meanwhile, everything around you is complete madness.
17:00A chaotic collage of many historical events.
17:03What do you see?
17:04Ancient humans and dinosaurs?
17:06The birth of the universe?
17:08Uh, future?
17:09Who knows?
17:10That's what the universe would look like if we swapped time and space.
17:15And, theoretically, this is what you would see if you fell into a black hole and somehow were able to
17:21survive.
17:22But how is something like this even possible?
17:25First of all, let's discuss time and space.
17:28Imagine drawing a light bulb on a sheet of paper.
17:31Then grab one more sheet and draw how it lit up.
17:34Right now, it's just a small circle of light.
17:37Another sheet, the circle of light is growing.
17:40It gets bigger and bigger in size, until, finally, it turns into a giant circle.
17:46In real life, the bulb lights up in the blink of an eye.
17:49That's because the speed of light is the fastest in the universe.
17:53But here, on our drawings, we capture the propagation of light frame by frame.
17:58We see how, over time, the light has grown from a small dot to a large circle.
18:03But, if you connect these circles, doesn't it remind you of some shape?
18:08For example, a cone?
18:10Yes, exactly.
18:12This is called a light cone.
18:14And time is the central axis of this cone.
18:17Why?
18:18Because light turns from a small dot into a large circle over time.
18:23To remember it, let's draw a time vector, an arrow inside the cone.
18:27It goes from the past to the future.
18:30Meanwhile, the circles are space.
18:32In space, we can move however we want, in any direction.
18:36We can move up or down, in zigzags and so on.
18:40But, no matter what zigzags we draw, along the timeline, we're always moving forward.
18:45We can't turn back in time, and we can't stop it.
18:49This helps us define time and space.
18:52Time is the direction in which the light cone is oriented.
18:55This is the direction where all our paths lead, and where our future inevitably lies.
19:00And space is the whole variety of directions perpendicular to the timeline.
19:06This is a straightforward graph.
19:08If it could be applied to the entire universe, then time would flow the same everywhere.
19:13However, if you've watched at least some popular sci-fi movies, you know that this isn't the case.
19:19In reality, time can be crazy.
19:22For example, if you're chilling near a black hole, what will be two hours for you may turn out to
19:28be 20 years for your friend on Earth.
19:30But why?
19:31Well, take a deep breath.
19:33Now, gravity comes into play.
19:35Oh, I know about gravity.
19:37It's that thing that helps me to stand on the ground, you may think.
19:40But it's much, much more complicated than that.
19:44Gravity is one of the basic physical forces in our world, and it's incredibly powerful.
19:49In fact, she's such a girl boss that she can distort space and time.
19:54She can literally influence the speed of time like an almighty wizard.
19:59How?
19:59Well, let's take something slightly bigger than a life bulb.
20:02For example, a supernova.
20:05Somewhere in the universe, a star has just made a boom.
20:09How do we know about it?
20:11Well, nothing in the universe, no sound, no radio waves, nothing, travels faster than light.
20:17So, we'll know about the birth of a supernova only when we see it.
20:21And this will happen only when its light cone grows enough and reaches our planet.
20:26So, the light cone grows and grows.
20:29So far, everything is fine.
20:31And finally, it reaches our planet.
20:33But there's a catch.
20:35You see, our planet is very massive.
20:37Very massive.
20:38And it has pretty strong gravity.
20:40What happens then?
20:42Gravity changes the direction of the light cone.
20:45It begins to attract the cone to the center of our planet.
20:48And with it, it also attracts our arrow of time.
20:52That means it slows the time down.
20:54And the closer the light cone is to us, the more the arrow bends and the slower time goes.
21:00What does it mean?
21:02Well, for example, the fact that the watch on your ankle will lag behind the watch on your wrist.
21:07That your head is aging faster than your legs.
21:10And that astronauts in Earth's orbit age a little slower than people on Earth.
21:15This is what scientists call general relativity.
21:19Right.
21:19But how does this relate to our topic?
21:22How can we understand what will happen if we swap space and time?
21:26Nah, don't worry.
21:27We're almost there.
21:29Now, imagine a cosmic body with incredibly strong gravity.
21:32It bends time and space so much that it feels like they swap.
21:37This is a black hole.
21:39A black hole attracts absolutely everything to its center.
21:43No stars, planets, no light can escape from there.
21:46Let's say our light cone is approaching it.
21:49First, as usual, time begins to bend toward the center of the black hole, attracted by its gravity.
21:55But the gravity is very strong.
21:57So it bends more and more.
21:59And time goes slower and slower the closer you're to the center.
22:04In the end, the light cone crosses the boundary of the black hole, the so-called event horizon.
22:10At this point, it gets so distorted that now it's literally pointing downwards.
22:15We can say that time has changed its direction.
22:18Time is pointing downwards.
22:20What kind of nonsense is that, you may ask?
22:23It'll be easier to explain in a real example.
22:25Imagine you're a crazy astronaut who decided to jump into a black hole.
22:30And there's an observer in the spaceship who watches you doing this for some reason.
22:35At first, for you, nothing changes.
22:37You look at your watch.
22:39You see that five minutes have passed.
22:41And everything's okay.
22:42But for the observer, first of all, you'll fall for a very long time.
22:48The observer has been sitting there for 50 years.
22:51And you're still falling.
22:52All because your time has slowed down.
22:55Secondly, since space is also distorted near the black hole, the observer will see how you'll begin to stretch like
23:02spaghetti.
23:03This is a scientific term, by the way.
23:06It's called spaghettification.
23:08And then you've finally crossed the event horizon.
23:11The observer doesn't see you anymore.
23:14Light cannot escape from a black hole.
23:16So your image won't reach the observer, even if you're still inside.
23:20And what about you?
23:22What if you somehow survived?
23:24Remember, the time arrow is pointing to the center of the black hole.
23:28What does it mean?
23:29It means that now, the center of the black hole is your future.
23:33It isn't a place.
23:35It's a fate that you can't change.
23:37And wherever you came from, as well as the rest of the universe, no longer exists for you.
23:43Because now, it's not a place, but an event from the past.
23:47And since you can't turn back time, you'll never be able to come back.
23:52But what is around you?
23:54Complete chaos.
23:55The rays of light now move in all directions, forward, backward, and so on.
24:00The rays depicting the events of the past, the future, the present, all this is moving around you.
24:06In reality, space and time didn't swap places.
24:09But it feels like they did.
24:11Because in space, you can now only move forward, as if along a straight line.
24:17And time, reflected in the light rays, surrounds you everywhere and moves in all possible directions.
24:23And here we go back to the beginning.
24:26This horrifying example helps us imagine what it would feel like if time and space got reversed.
24:33Of course, all this is just theories and guesses.
24:35The very idea that we're moving in some one direction, the one we haven't chosen, and there's complete time chaos
24:43around, sounds quite frightening.
24:45And yet, it would be a very interesting experience.
24:49Sounds dangerous.
24:50Hmm, why don't you go first?
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