NASA goes nuclear to get humans to Mars
NASA goes nuclear to get humans to Mars
NBC News’ Tom Costello visits Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. for a firsthand look at the nuclear technology NASA says will take humans to Mars.
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Content
0 -> this was the scene this morning from low
2.28 -> earth orbit as a second ever private
4.68 -> space mission docked at the
6 -> International Space Station where the
7.799 -> four-person crew was expected to stay
9.36 -> for just over a week this historic
11.82 -> flight is led by a retired astronaut
14.04 -> Peggy Whitson who has spent more time in
16.92 -> space than any American and also
18.96 -> includes the first ever Saudi woman to
20.939 -> enter orbit NBC News correspondent Tom
23.4 -> Costello is at the site of that launch
25.32 -> as NASA sets its sights on Beyond low
28.199 -> earth orbit and all the way to Mars is
31.439 -> the topic of this week's episode of Meet
33.12 -> the Press reports
35.399 -> hey Amish good day and we are in the
37.44 -> middle of a torrential rainstorm here
39.239 -> but this has been the site of a great
41.28 -> launch yesterday the Axiom crew on top
44.28 -> of a SpaceX rocket now in Orbit on the
47.46 -> International Space Station as NASA
49.739 -> looks at going to the Moon one day and
52.2 -> to Mars and to get to Mars they're going
54.539 -> nuclear
58.02 -> one month after Elon musk's Starship
60.6 -> launched then broke apart on liftoff a
64.32 -> rapid unscheduled disassembly both
66.6 -> SpaceX and NASA insist they're committed
69 -> to the rocket first to land astronauts
71.64 -> on the moon but ultimately to carry
73.86 -> Crews to Mars as soon as 2040. while
77.64 -> science and exploration are the driving
79.5 -> motivators there's also a competitive
82.2 -> Factor China the Chinese government is
85.979 -> very secretive
87.9 -> and a lot of their plans involve their
91.38 -> military preparations
93.42 -> and so there's a reason for us to get
97.2 -> there first and NASA wants to get there
100.02 -> faster a round-trip Mission to Mars
102.36 -> could take two to three years so to cut
105.24 -> the travel time America is going back to
108.6 -> the future
109.56 -> this project was called nerva to the
112.799 -> 1960s and a government program most
115.439 -> Americans have never heard of to develop
118.34 -> nuclear-powered Rockets
120.479 -> someday a manned trip to Mars and return
123.299 -> may become the mission assignment in it
125.46 -> turns out they made big progress back in
127.799 -> the 60s running expensive tests the goal
130.979 -> now sent astronauts to the moon and
133.14 -> Beyond on nuclear Rockets
135.959 -> when the Apollo Astronauts went to the
137.879 -> moon they needed five of these massive
140.4 -> F1 engines just to get them off the
143.099 -> Earth and escape the Earth's
144.54 -> gravitational pull seven and a half
146.64 -> million pounds of thrust here at the U.S
149.4 -> Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville
150.72 -> they've got an exact replica to scale of
154.02 -> the Saturn V
155.959 -> 363 feet tall future astronauts will
159.3 -> need that kind of lift but once they're
161.7 -> in space they can use a much smaller
164.22 -> engine a nuclear engine to go all the
166.68 -> way to Mars and back a fraction of the
169.08 -> size and that engine could last 20 years
172.44 -> this is a big place it's happening now
175.62 -> at the Marshall test flight center in
177.54 -> Huntsville this is where they put
179.64 -> components of nuclear thermal Rockets
181.5 -> such as this fuel element here and like
183.48 -> the one that you're holding these are
185.28 -> the building blocks for America's future
187.64 -> nuclear propulsion going to space yes
191.04 -> but America's Best Known astrophysicist
193.98 -> Neil deGrasse Tyson Wonder is why we're
197.099 -> going I'm all for people in space but to
200.879 -> accomplish scientific goals the robot
203.04 -> can live off of sunlight and you can't
204.36 -> robot is not going to cry because we ran
206.58 -> out of money we can't bring it back but
208.739 -> listen to this NASA has used nuclear
211.14 -> technology before you remember that
212.78 -> Voyager probe that was sent in 1977 to
216.3 -> the far reaches of the solar system it
219.06 -> is using nuclear batteries it's still
221.28 -> out there it's still sending back data
223.62 -> but it has three million times less
226.14 -> memory than your cell phone 1970s
230.4 -> technology still at work yamiche back to
232.56 -> you
234.239 -> such School reporting Tom Costello thank
236.76 -> you so much for that reporting and you
238.44 -> can stream the full episode of Meet the
240.12 -> Press reports the race to Mars on NBC
242.94 -> news now and on demand on peacock and
245.28 -> YouTube don't miss it
248.4 -> thanks for watching our YouTube channel
250.319 -> follow today's top stories and breaking
252.599 -> news by downloading the NBC News app
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL0jYn-0ulU