NASA Connect - VASIMR

[weeinchit]

Watch Robert Zubrin talk about VASIMR. It's rather eye-opening.

[JR0d2002]

why is the new youtube grey??? wtf? oh btw...im doing a research project on the VASIMR. This technology is pretty sweet

[banderbob]

is this technology still under development? or even exist still?

[Helge129]

@banderbob As a matter of fact, 2012 or 2013 they intend to put one of these on the ISS.

[Parico90]

Yesterday I visited his laboratory in Liberia, Costa Rica. It´s simply amazing, my inspiration to become an engineer was renewed.

[Unclesamslair]

is it just me or is the audio all fucked up?

[Unclesamslair]

@Unclesamslair oh, never mind. switched to 240p

[Skandalos]

Unfortunately the rest of this solar system is terribly dull and uninteresting. Why would I want to go to mars or any other planet/moon. First we need better telescopes to find places out there who really look promising. If we find some place worth going to we will find the way to get there, no problem.

[ccricers]

@Skandalos Mars and the moon are blank canvases to start new ways of life there. Anyone that doesn't find the rest of the solar system interesting will be happiest living on Earth anyways.

[Skandalos]

@ccricers Why dont you start with Antarctica or Siberia with new ways of life? They are much closer and 100 times more friendly to life than mars or moon.

[ccricers]

@Skandalos There are already lots of settlements in Antarctica for scientific research. But that's beside the point of becoming a spacefaring civilization.

[1stsmosh]

@decaalv Eat nucleons you twerp.

[Darko2625]

This rocket can create strong magnetic fields around ship. So...cosmic radiation problem-solved!

[baglungnepal]

Get ready folks, its now time to buy tickets and get your passports ready for Mars

[Zimarooski]

omg NASA Connect please hire real artists to manage your aesthetic and make better looking more exciting videos than this

these are childrens dreams and futures you're selling to

[granddad2002]

I'm glad to see all of this. I was 5 years old when I saw the Moon landing. I remember being in 3rd grade for 'Skylab'. I remember seeing the first pictures from 'Viking I' on Mars. And 'Voyager' and 'Galileo' . Now we can send people to Mars and rovers to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.... It's just a matter of mandate.

[yoguely]

Breathtaking!

[Kpeters]

To think I met this guy when I was a kid and I made a model turbine. He gave me his mail adress and I lost it lol. What douche I was : /.

[hobbiz]

@minase0906

it is not a rocket propulsion, and it does not accelerate slowly

[MCCULLAH1]

watch?v=QNsP1PJLorw

[ODDS1]

i think the real challenge will be sustaining this type of travel using nuclear power. there are currently no forms of portable nuclear power generation, that i'm aware of, due to a number of logical reasons.

[pkjim]

@ODDS1 No portable reactors? What do nuclear subs and aircraft carriers use?

[hobbiz]

@ODDS1

even though you are not aware of, doesnt mean it don't exist. it have been used in subs for 56 years now...

[airdriver]

Dr. Diaz needs some better PR training in how to better communicate this idea. This could be what we need really open up interplanetary exploration and settlement.

[airdriver]

Well what the hell are we waiting for? Keep the Shuttle fleet flying(or finish up Venturestar) build the damn thing in orbit and let's get to Mars. After that, the whole solar system is wide open with this baby.

[DaMcaAtak]

@airdriver Unfortunately it would take ( going at 55kms one of its expected high speeds) 5469 years approximately to reach alpha centauri.

[airdriver]

@DaMcaAtak I'm not talking about interstellar travel, I'm talking about interplanetary travel. We can invent warp drive or whatever later.

[Perokneznik]

@DaMcaAtak I read somewhere, that VASIMR would be able to reach speed of 300kms. Well even at that higher speed, it would be matter of hundreds of years to the nearest star...I would see the possibility of reaching the nearest stars in completing the ITER project ( fussion reactor), and use of fussion power for a laser which would propel huge solarsails..maybe combined with VASIMR

[EdouardDubois]

2:35

"Possible fuels for the VASIMR engine could include hydrogen, deuterium, helium, nitrogen, and other."

*GASP!* Those aren't fuels, a NASA scientist should know this. Those are propellants. In a plasma rocket there is a considerable difference between those two.

[EdouardDubois]

I wonder though... if the extreme heat is the primary thing that differentiates a Plasma thruster from an Ion thruster, would an engine that ran on cold plasmas be considered an ion thruster?

Or... is it all the same crap?

[hobbiz]

@EdouardDubois

cold plasma? what element would be able to do that?

[EdouardDubois]

@hobbiz

Thoughtfully I've forgotten what context I was referring to back when wrote that. lol

Most gases that can be made into a plasma can be made into a cold plasma. Making a gas into a cold plasma simply means ionizing the gas without raising it to an insane temperature. Which is why I wonder whether there is much difference between a cold plasma thruster and an ion thruster.

[henik9]

Yeah I definitely feel like a child watching this but I hope it gets built successfully.

[pcjwss]

right, okay from other comments, it turns out she is a childrens tv presenter.

In that case, keep up the good work jennifer.

[pcjwss]

that woman talks to camera like a childrens tv presenter. She's awful.

brilliant engine though!

[eqtworld]

Launching a fission reactor with enough power would be a public relations nightmare

[TheNuclearWatermelon]

its not a fission reactor O.o

[eqtworld]

@TheNuclearWatermelon

They are proposing a fission reactor

[TheNuclearWatermelon]

No, its not a fission reactor! Its a magnetoplasma rocket! This has ablosutly nothing to do with nuclear fission. It's simply a rocket where plasma is heated to provide thrust.

[EdouardDubois]

@ eqworld & NuclearWatermelon

Actually, in the later portion of the video Mr. Chang-Diaz explains that a scaled up version of the VASIMR would need more power and suggests using a fission reactor to fuel it.

When you start needing multi-megawatts solar just doesn't cut it. Especially if they want to use these as far out as Mars.

But it's not a big deal, by then we will probably have really good radiation control systems. And we can hope people will have gotten over their fear of nuclear.

[blad3runn69]

Great work! possibly a very promising step toward instellar travel.

If you have any spare time a badass time-space bending gravity engine is what we need. The universe is a pretty big place, i think it might even bigger than youtube ;)

[trakkaton]

So let's say we postpone the manned mission to MARS, which we postponed for the last 50 years another 50 years. What's the disadvantage?

[trakkaton]

Your first sentence is an attempt to answer the question, but formalities and abstract, arbitrary concepts such as "extraterrestrial mining rights" are hardly a motivation to go there. The rest of your comment just is no answer to the question. Try again.

[GreenFont]

Using magnetic forces to shield from radiation... isn't that a deflector array in Star Trek? lol. Impulse drive will serve us well for inter planetary travel when it's advanced enough but for interstellar travel we will need to devise a way of travel exceeding the light barrier, for that we will need anti matter reaction.

[hobbiz]

@GreenFont

in that case, earth have a huge deflector array.. :P

[witness2history]

Taking so long because it's not getting enough money. I think NASA out to partner with Space X and get the Falcon/Dragon system up and running. Can be done two years earlier and cheaper than the white elep[hant they are trying to fly now. Then use saving to research ans develop stuff like VASIMIR

[roidroid]

I imagine Dr Diaz is well aware of what Impulse means, and why VASIMR is in no way similar to the fictional "Impulse Drive" of StarTrek which famously used no reaction mass at all.

If you think otherwise, please take the effort to make use of 500 characters to explain yourself beyond "NUH UH".

[fizzmaverick]

why is it taking soo long to develop??? :S dr diaz has been working on this for awhile noww....does anyone know when it may be used in flights (10yrs? 20 yrs?). would be better than the godawful ares bs

[frcz10]

Well I'm Costa Rican, and today Costa Rican main newspaper has informed that VASIMR wil be going into space in 2013. They already signed an agreement with NASA in 2008 and it's now a reality. Franklin Chang's engine will be tested in the International Space Station in 2013!

[fizzmaverick]

thanks for your response! looking forward to this......

[ccricers]

@frcz10 Chang-Diaz inspired another Hispanic to go into space (Jose Hernandez) and now he's building rockets to help us get into space easier. I'm a hispanic too that wants to follow into those footsteps.

[mobius1234]

poor funding, thats why :(

[CrazyForCooCooPuffs]

there trying to get its efficiency up

[mossy1s]

It's really encouraging to see new innovative technology being used to advance our civilization. Now we just need to train humans to become civilized! Excellent work guys!

[1stsmosh]

FIVE.... 5 STATES OF MATTER....the 5th is the BOSE- EINSTEIN CONDENSATE.

[notessimodude]

@1stsmosh There's actually a lot of states... liquid, solid, gas, plasma, (not sure what yours is) Bose-Einstein Condensate, absolute zero, proto-plasma (unsure), absolute density, etc.

[Spaceguy5]

@1stsmosh If you want to get technical, there's more than even 5 <_________< The 4 he mentions are just the classical states

[jpcasasola]

viva Costa Rica

[josueguitar]

I'm so proud of that dude!!!

[JustAnAdjunct]

The woman in the begining needs to act normal.

[austinober]

its a child show therefor retarded

[TimeLord6646]

Yay impulse drive!

[roidroid]

VASIMR is not impulse drive.

A technology that would be more like an impulse drive are the many "Reactionless Thrusters" in various stages of development/testing.

Such as the "EmDrive" and "Mach Lorentz Thruster".

It's questionable whether any of them will work out. It's still a hotly debated topic whether or not reactionless thrusters are even theoretically possible.

[Lywnis]

oh fuck,didn't they on Star Trek talk about DEUTERIUM TANKS? and this guy mentioned this element to use it as an alternative... whoa,wicked

[TomH67]

Yeah! I noticed he said that also! Wicked!

[Lywnis]

TomH67:yeah,i remembered an episode years ago.And i remembered that exact phrase ,at that time thinking "yeah right, next time name it Superawesome-condensor,as if that would happen".And here it is... lolzxy

[kd1s]

No you're thinking of ion propulsion. I'd say ion propulsion is one lower than plasma.

[Lywnis]

and nasa bought every european genious to do their projects... doesnt matter, Europe rulez - more intelligent people here

[kd1s]

Yes I know that. Event he current rocket program has more to do with Von Braun than anything else.

Of course the U.S. is loaded with Christofascisti so it doesn't surprise me that we don't innovate as well as we could. Their attitude is that "Science is bad because it makes you question religion."

[Lywnis]

kd1s:i couldn't agree more ... exact and true.Although there are other forms of fascism,that people just ignore (as you said).People think that Fascism is just a form of government or even a faction that could only exist in the time of Mussolini.This can't be more far from the truth.

Indeed,religion and science is utterly incompatible.

[culebritaloca]

VASIMR, is a Costa rican technology, developed by ( Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica) Leaders in Plasma Technology and Franklin Chang Diaz is a costa rican founder and owner. So that means just one thing. Costa Rican Rules.

[UnoKPasaba]

If that REALLY works, and not only in theory, then yes, Costa Rican will have a point. Massive creation of this motor will even allow things they were virtually impossible without it, like terraforming Mars.

On the other side, I sincerely hope this technology will be opened for all humanity to use, not only the USA.

[hobbiz]

@kd1s

in the matter of efficiency, yup. go wiki and look for "specific impulse"

[bloty02]

this is great, ihope this technology gets developed before im gone, its all so exciting and interesting

[bloty02]

sorry about those other comments they were supposed to be replys to other comments

[lostinseganet]

The fifth state of matter exist as well.

[bloty02]

The fifth state of matter exist as well? Please tell me what that is.

[lostinseganet]

Bost Einstain Condensate

[ycats1000]

nasa rules...

i grew up learning from them, in most countries people are discouraged from learning too much-

but with nasa, we can just look at their website and find out so many amazing things that inspire us to learn.

thats the freedom our friends and family died to protect

[bloty02]

i agree

[WarCrime911]

NASA is a joke! We should have a base on the MOON by now! They are HIDING the REAL technology, believe that!

[bloty02]

no i dont believe there exists any such conspiracy

[sterance2]

It's fascinating to see technology like this develop. Hopefully, we'll get to see some pretty awesome commercial spaceflight someday. Just... no Cylons. I'd prefer to stay here and not be hunted like an animal by robots.

[bloty02]

Interesting perception of the future, but i doubt we will ever let robots become conscious enough to do such a thing, even if they did it would not just be on mars.

[sterance2]

I HOPE we don't have robots like that. But still, it would be interesting to see a moon base, a artificial environment inside a satellite, maybe even one day (WAAAAAAAAAAY in the future), a terraformed planet.

[Lywnis]

sterance2:impossible to terraform the moon ,since the moon has no atmosphere and low gravity.you would need unlimited ammounts of energy to do that...

[sterance2]

It's impossible now. But think about this. Three or four hundred years ago, no one could have imagined some of the technologies we have today. Terraforming will com, just not in yours or my lifetime.

[Lywnis]

sterance2: No it's not... if you mean COLONIZING the moon,that is true.But NOT terraforming it without basicaly changing the laws of phisycs... and why would they do that? i mean,i could then argue that in 10 000 years we could be supermen and flying like him... makes no valid argument though

[Lywnis]

sterance2:actualy i take that back...immagine if we could make an energy field,sustained by the earth's gravitational forces (somehow collecting it's energy) or even the sun,then you could putt in breathable air.Voila' , here you have it, air on moon and terraforming would follow...touche' to your vision

[sterance2]

So, we have atmosphere. Now, it would be awesome if we could intensify the moon's gravity to make it close to Earth-norm.

As for the energy field, NASA is currently developing a shield (not like Star Trek unfortunately ;) ) that can repel radiation from the Sun more so than the outer shell of spaceships and such. So, I think we MAY be on the right track for making a more physically repelling shield. IE, repelling mass, rather than energy.

[Lywnis]

sterance2:mhm... i see what you mean.I didn't know NASA was up to it...but it is kinda logical,since it would be too hazzardous to travel in outerspace (out from the Kuiper belt) without an adequate micro-asteroid protection field,combined with some kind of armor.But ofcourse,particles can collide dorsaly too,so i guess an energy field would be awesome.

Also, how does an energy field repel radiation i wonder?Does it have to do with countering the radiation "energy" with another energywave?

[hobbiz]

@Lywnis

the same way earth repel radikation from the sun... magnetic energy, easy as that. VASIMR creates a strong magnetic field anyway...

[Lywnis]

sterance2:you know...if radiation travels in "waves" ,you can cancell a "wave" by "propelling" another "negative wave" :) Excuse my unscientific gibberish... Well,i made these up,obviously.I like to think that my logic is beyond normal,but who wants to know,right? :D (lol,trying to be funny)

[sterance2]

lol, no worries, I know what you mean :P

But, yeah, I agree with what you said. The way cell phone jammers work is through the clashing of signals; It's all about "who's got the bigger signal," because then, one cancels the other out. If that could be applied to solar radiation, if it was directed away from the spaceship or whatever, and it was strong enough, it would have enough to at least cancel out a portion of the solar radiation.

[hobbiz]

@sterance2

yeah, that would be awesome...and then we all died.... now how awesome is that?!

[slafkec]

we should use prisoners sentenced to death as test subjects for vasimr engine. that should help at keeping development costs at low level

[HomedudePedroski]

lol, that's terrible slafkec.

[xastonv12x]

Wow very cool stuff. Makes me want to play X-Com UFO defense again.

[yarahahrwe]

"Franklin Chang Diaz"? hahahaha

Vasimr's cool, just hope it's not Tokamak cool...

[rafaelsjm]

i know, right? it's like american-spanish-asian ... lmao

[Freemmaann]

Why does it have to by purple? :P still awesome tho

[NWguy83]

Cause when things get super hot they go from orange, to blue, to purple.

[demonhordelock7]

Dr Chang is from Costa Rica im very pround of it ! my country COSTA RICA is just amazing in every point and Ad Astra Rocket is part of Costa Rica also.

[LORDMETALMAN]

nice cover up "VASIMR"

[pentica]

the amusing part is sure we have the technolagy and the potential to do anything we want but the odds it will take to get to mars using humans to get there is a dangerous and unfriendly undertaking, we are talking everything from dustsized particles to magnetic storms to ice chuncks, you name it it can kill, definately not the cute picture they paint in the small segment. logically its feasable but its not what every avrage normal person will do in their life, lol

[loperspest]

Not everyone left Europe to go to the New World, and once there they faced many dangers, including many that we are unlikly to face on Mars. But they stuck at it, and made a home there, and because of them, you get to live here. Lets spread our wings and fly.

[ycats1000]

watchu smokin man...

[loperspest]

Its called a Dream. Without it, we would still be on the savanna, picking bugs out of each others fur.

[pentica]

we must teraform mars!!! cmon kiddies were goin to mars!! total recall!. yeah!!! were goin to mars!!! *calms down* ok so heres what gets me about this video it automaticly implies that we have the technolagy to live on mars, awsome, great, but it still seems like science fiction and sounds too good to be true with the automatic assumption we are going to go to mars. refering to us younger generations, there is alot of expectation in their voices, DO IT OR WE WILL HAUNT YOU! kind of manorism.

[solanojosue]

Eres un gran ejemplo a seguir, mis grandes sinceros respetos y Dios bendiga todos tus proyectos. Mis mejores deseos, mi gran querido amigo Dr. Franklin R. Chang Díaz

De su fiel seguidor JOSUE SOLANO / COSTA RICA

[Spookysr]

Why Mars?

[blanketspill]

Why not.

[samoht1977]

Looks a lot like an UAC ad where they explain their latest technology... too much playing doom3?

[Membrane556]

What he invented is likely what will enable a manned mission to mars this is even more important then a heavy lift vehicle such as Ares V.

That engine makes a manned mission to mars possible as chemical rockets just can't get there fast enough

.

Propulsion breakthroughs like this are an enabling technology for space exploration.

[krist300]

he looks like Jim Carey

[rotgertesla]

cool i want to be a plasma physicist

[javitothescientist]

la wea laraja

imposible mas didactica la explicacion dl estado d plasma ajajajaj

subete un video mas entrete po

algo no tan retan scientifico ajajaj

o x ultimo algo biotek :P

[hoser4]

Dude, Chang-Diaz sounds (to my ears) almost like Chekov. Heh. :)

[mattmatt115]

hahaha dumb bitch

[qbfx]

dumb asshole, stupid punk