Lagrange Point Space Settlement

Lagrange Points are the rare oases, stationary islands in space. As a result, they are invaluable real estate where we can build vast space habitats.
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Credits:
Lagrange Point Space Settlement
Episode 431; January 25, 2024
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Editors:
Anne Kopperud
Briana Brownell
Graphics:
Bryan Versteeg
Jarred Eagley
YD Visual
Sergio Botero
Udo Schroeter
Music Courtesy of Steve Cardon

[@jerramygipson6560]

We need more Lagrange Point scifi! It's so interesting to think how these places could work in society!

[@arcadiaberger9204]

There was a LOT of it written in the 1970s-80s, so much so that "O'Neill" or "Lagrangia" became for the period from about 1977-1987 what "Luna City" was for 1955-1970. But yeah, let's get back on it.

[@etsequentia6765]

@@EdT.-xt6yv Like it or not, national boundaries are essential to striving, functioning and free nations, civilizations and societies. Turns out the alternative to national boundaries is not some global peaceful utopia where everybody's citizens of the world, but rather a despotic dystopian hell where one factor, one power or one ideology managed to conquer, erode or destroy all other borders and place everyone under its boot. And naturally, such a factor will do ANYTHING to maintain its power. And countless factors, agents, identities and ideologies are striving right now and all the time to reach that exact state. That's not some paranoid delusion, this is the human reality.

[@jerramygipson6560]

@@etsequentia6765 Not disagreeing, just giving counter-point. Could there be some representative democracy for the entire world, where different factions vied for votes, and was more integrated than what the UN is now (which is a joke)? The US is a conglomeration of states, which have very different policies from each other. Does it only persist because there are other nations with very different political structures? Would it become authoritarian if there weren't competition?

[@Minnan1]

Alliance-Union series by C. J. Cherryh's got some

[@bellphorusnknight]

SEIG ZION -casually colony drops in australia

[@davidgood1318]

There's also the "Venus Equilateral" stories by George O Smith (1940's) where the namesake station was a manned communications relay between Earth and Venus for use when the Sun was in the way of the direct link. Wikipedia says it was three miles long and one mile in diameter, spinning to provide spin gravity. It was at Venus's L4 point.

[@brunocesarcerqueira2525]

I have a lot of ideas for illustrations and science fiction comics, and your videos provide a lot of scientific basis that expands possibilities that I previously thought were exaggerated or impossible, and fuel to improve the ideas I already had. Thank you Isaac Arthur. I'm sure that a lot of science fiction material in books, games, comics, cinema and concept art will be greatly influenced by your excellent content, due to the new generations of artists and, why not, scientists who are young today and watch your channel. Thank you for expanding our mental horizons with quality content.

[@addisonchow9798]

Imagine dropping a habitat from the Lagrange point as a weapon.

[@markallen6433]

What do you mean dropping? You can't drop something that won't accelerate due to gravity

[@anthonyramirez9925]

That’s kinda like throwing an apartment complex at a nation

[@ZontarDow]

Zeon did nothing wrong

[@ZontarDow]

​@@markallen6433you can of you put a rocket engine on ot

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

​@@ZontarDow SecCom did nothing wrong too

[@ZontarDow]

An ideal place for picking O'Neil Cylinders to drop on the Earth Federation.

[@marcossonicracer]

this post was Presented by the Principality of Zeon XD

[@chickenusgoddus464]

Sieg zeon

[@darfjono]

this post was fact-checked by real spacenoid patriots

[@electricangel4488]

It is facinating that gundam becomes more realistic the more i learn

[@MardrukZeiss]

Transhuman Space has a good portrayal of Lagrange Point development

[@randallkoskubar2303]

Happy Thursday to all my fellow Arthurians

[@bigjay875]

Excellent job explaining the topic 👍

[@randallkoskubar2303]

Do we have any examples yet of naturally occurring moons with their own moons?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

possibly Kepler-1625b I, its not fully confirmed though.

[@randallkoskubar2303]

@@isaacarthurSFIA so how much to book the first flight out? I could use a vacation, and kepler-1625b sounds lovely this time of year

[@EdT.-xt6yv]

​@@randallkoskubar2303 NOT SURE IF MY OLD BRAIN CAN TOLERATE FUSION ENGINE TIME TRAVEL,,,

[@Warchin007]

Lagrange Diamond is PURE GOLD!!! Right up there with Orbital rings! OH if mankind could only get its head out of it's blank.

[@EdT.-xt6yv]

Looks like we are already dead in the HYPER BLANK MENTALITY?

[@cannonfodder4376]

Another wonderful SFIA video to brighten my Thursday morning. Informative as always.

[@Yoel_Mizrachi]

"Home, home on Lagrange, Where the space debris always collects, We possess, so it seems, two of Man's greatest dreams: Solar power and zero-gee se*"

[@StarlightSocialist]

"We eat algae pie, Our vacuum is high, Our ball bearings are perfectly round, The horizon is curved, The warheads are MIRV'd, And the kilogram weighs half a pound"

[@arcadiaberger9204]

@@StarlightSocialist "If we run out of space for our burgeoning race No more Lebensraum left for the mensch When we're ready to start We can take Mars apart If we just find a big enough wrench"

[@steelcelt5939]

"Rumor spreadin' 'round In that Texas town About that shack outside La Grange And you know what I'm talkin' about Just let me know If you wanna go To that home out on the range They got a lot of nice girls."

[@Deridus]

I'm sick of this place, It's just mcdonald's in space So I'll see you next week at L4.

[@Deridus]

​@@StarlightSocialist A fellow Spesman? Excelent.

[@BaldingClamydia]

I went to the NSS website when you announced your big news, but I was confused at seeing the name Isaac Arthur. I thought that was a pseudonym, so I expected to see a different name :D

[@taxirob2248]

Mars L1 magnetic shield makes more sense than surface level shielding. Not sure how much it would help the planet retain atmosphere, but keeping out those cosmic rays would stop perclorate production so that our abatement processes aren't in vain.

[@ninmastnunyabiz9404]

I wonder how large the population might grow if it went both down AND out? Still living on the surface, but also burrowing and settling inside it like in the Spaceship Earth episode, AND building out into lagrange point settlements from this episode. It seems like it would be incredibly massive, and would certainly stretch the concept of living "On Earth."

[@UpliftedCapybara]

Love the intro music

[@usun_current5786]

There will be devastating wars in the future over those Ls.

[@adamfrederick4198]

I'm hoping someone can help me remember a book series I read years ago. The general premise was a young man who lived with his mom and her abusive bf if memory serves correctly. He finds out multiple neighbors in his cul de sac are either aliens or time travelers or something of that nature. He joins them in some sort of fight they are having with another group. I only ask here because we are a community of sci fi fans lol

[@arcadiaberger9204]

I'm not familiar with this story, but it sounds appealing. I like stories which have to do with dysfunctional families and relationships in SF settings - if for no other reason than to remind us that a dysfunctional relationship can exist anywhere, at any time. Edit: You might want to try posting a comment on a recent Rebecca Watson video about dysfunctional relationships and the alleged "Five Love Languages".

[@innerstrengthcheck]

Right on poiny for bedtime!

[@alfredotto7525]

I wish we could start building these settlements and start exploring more space.

[@Roguescienceguy]

L3 would be the perfect parkingspot for Venus, well atleast after we got her weight at exactly ours

[@HakkaDakka]

I like the positivity, it's just a matter of time before this is reality 🙂

[@nathanwhitechurch3769]

Literally have always wondered about this lol

[@chelsichrislow9779]

I hope when we start sending probes to other solar systems we fly by Lagrange points to look for alien technology.

[@glennboyd939]

We can only use 1 Lagrange point because we will probably park Halley's comet in the other for a giant fuel/ water/ O2 supply. If we get our act together now.

[@alanpenny437]

You should get a cover of the ZZ Top song La Grange with some "modded" lyrics that fit!!!!

[@coalnel]

A hard sci fi series where different nations of today develop Lagrange points and the solar system is dense with development would be so interesting to read.

[@mrnnhnz]

Good episode, nice one. Can I request an episode please? I would love to see an episode on ASTROGATION. Imagine we had a spaceship capable of travelling at an average of 10% of lightspeed. It will accelerate at 1G until it gets to that speed, then turn the engines off and coast along at that speed until it reaches the half-way point, at which time it will flip over. I will then continue to coast along (still 0G on the ship as no active propulsion at that time,) until it reaches a point where it will turn the engines on, decelerating at 1G in such a way that it's speed is down to normal intra-solar-system speeds by the time it reaches the target system's Oort cloud or Kuyper belt equivalent. I think that choosing exactly which direction to point your ship to start with might be very complex, to allow for the fact you're aiming not at the star, but at where the star will be by the time your ship arrives. For example, let's say you're going to Ross 128, 11 light years away (because it has a roughly Earth-sized planet in its Goldilocks zone.) Your colonists are either living generations of life inside your ship for the 110 year journey, or they're in stasis or hibernation or something, (perhaps they might be awake during the times the ship is under acceleration or deceleration, but in hibernation for the majority of the time when the ship is coasting along and there's 0 gee on the ship, for comfort's sake?) Your crew also, except they come out of hibernation at crucial points along the journey to keep an eye on things. The computer mostly steers and makes course corrections and so forth. But either people, or the computer, are going to have to be very smart to work out exactly what direction to point the ship in (a few degrees in the direction back from where the star is processing?) and then, during the journey, it'll have to make constant observations and slight course corrections, based on a variety of factors. I can't find a single video on the whole of KZbin that really covers this, (other than with respect to getting around inside universe simulation games, which I'm not interested in.) In short, I'd love to see a video on astrogation. I've tried researching it myself, and am finding it very difficult. Some internet materials are interesting, but not easy to get into, and no-one answers any emails or requests for information I've sent them. But I believe you and your team have the smarts (and clout) to research this successfully, and I'd be super interested to see how it's done, how the equation changes based on a variety of factors, like the speed you take, the type of spaceship you're in, the obstacles between you and your destination (dust-clouds, other systems, other star systems...) how you make observations while you're moving at relativistic speeds, how you make course corrections, sometimes at huge speeds (if you have a forcefield in front of your ship to prevent damage to it from impacts with specks of dust hitting you at huge speeds, I suppose you'll have to extend that force field to one side a bit as you angle your course a bit? Or...?) At what point near the destination your should aim to be down to "normal" speeds - by the time you're in the Kuyper belt there'll be more pebbles and rocks around for you to smash into, so having time to observe and avoid them is good, but perhaps you need to slow down by the time you get to the Oort cloud? Might be more safety-conscious, but mean you have a ton of time to get from there to the destination planet... The type of drive will impact the equation as well - if it's a slow and stead ion drive type thing, or a bring-your-own-rocket-fuel type thing. There's a lot more to consider too. But my main question is, "What direction do I point my spaceship in to get to Ross 128b, assuming my ship will average 10% light speed, and how do I make sure it stays on course the whole time?"

[@gamer21thCenturion]

This video coincides with the newly released Mobile suit Gundam - Seed freedom movie. Hmmm...

[@thiagom8478]

One of the most intuitive ways to build a setting is to organize it around a fight for territory, I think. Makes sense, no need for infodump. Traditionally those places people would fight for had water supply, fertile land, and/or (for fantasy) some sort of magic fuel for spells. Possibly a passage between mountains, easy to defend. I suppose most those things don't fit super well in the so called Space-Age. Tastes a bit odd to me when some alien space fleet wants to get tons of gold from us, or steal our oceans. Almost the same effect than find cellphones and underground metropolitan trains in a Middle Earthish setting. Does not match the context. John Norman's Counter Earth, Planet Gor, is a sci-fi. And has both medieval/ancient technology and space-ships. Advanced biological-imortality obtained by medicine, and sword fights. But to achieve that mix, without magic, the author needs to include quasi-divine aliens invested in a sort of preservation of their human 'natural sanctuary' (so to speak, my expression, not his) on Planet Gor. Priest Kings decide what technologies humanity can, and which ones they cannot use, and for which purposes. Without those benevolent super-integigent aliens limiting human development 'for our own good' would take too much suspension of disbelieve to have wars for territory on the surface of Gor. And also interplanetary travel and artificial moons. Those Lagrange Points here_ just invented by Mr Isaac Arthur, let's suppose_ do a beautiful job providing a reason for conflict about territory in space. Even if physics didn't provided anything like that in reality would still be a good idea to make up the concept. For narrative purposes.

[@linz8291]

Peaceful ET civilizations has extroplanets more than we thought when they achieved galactic civilization millions of years ago. Or, you mean Zeta Grey wanna stolen our ocean and gold?

[@David-hr5ml]

I've been trying to find that zero G spot for most of my adult life. So far no luck

[@VegaHawk769]

Can 2 bodies of equal or near equal mass exist in each other's L3?

[@forbiddenera]

5:40 zero g-spot? You just weren't looking hard enough 😂

[@Robert-eb4ex]

In a giant hollow sphere massive enough there would be a point in the center where gravity would pull outward evenly instead of inward. Is this correct?

[@Robert-eb4ex]

I always wondered.

[@digitalnomad9985]

Inside a perfectly symmetrical hollow sphere there is no net gravity pull not at one point, but THROUGHOUT THE INTERIOR, assuming the mass of the shell is the only attractor, but standing on the exterior, the pull would be exactly the same as if you were suspended over a point mass at the center with the same mass as the sphere. That's why if you could survive in an elevator approaching the center of the Earth, your weight would DECREASE as you approached the center, because the sphere of mass that is a lesser depth (farther than you from the center) cancels itself out.

[@robertbyerlay5040]

Make the sky pink? For valentines day?

[@trentmcevoy2011]

Keep up the great stuff we need future thinkers but keep us believers in your slip stream

[@SkyFly19853]

That ship is from StarCraft ?... 🤔😏

[@urbangradisek5695]

dont know whi but the 3bodproblem infestifies harder than choper in vietnam

[@Deridus]

I'm sick of this place, it's just McDonnalds in space, so I'll see you next week at L4.

[@lucasgibbs4879]

Are Lagrange points targets for seti

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Not that I'm aware of but they probably would be if you were doing high-speed flyby probes

[@Yikks23]

What about change in gravitational pull due to our orbit since our orbit is elliptical. Does it affect these points?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yes, it does, that's one of the reaosns they are quasi-stable, because if you're on an ellipse, you move slower when furthest form the body you orbit, meaning the guys' 6- degrees ahead or behind you are moving faster away and toward you respectively at that time.

[@Yikks23]

I also had a doubt about warpdrives. Just in case if space craft hits celestial body, then what will happen to it. Since warp drive work by expanding the space in front and contracting in the back. So how the celestial body wil be affected ?

[@raphaelnascimentosilvestre7434]

@@Yikks23 As i understand, dont exist acceleration in this case. You cannot suffer G's effects either.

[@Yikks23]

@@raphaelnascimentosilvestre7434 I'm not asking about the space craft but the body it collided with. Since warp drive expand at the front, so does the body expand and after the craft passes through body contract. Or something else happens. And what would be the experience at the other side.

[@AlberichY]

Sieg Zeon!

[@ardalwinterborn]

Congrats on the Presidency!

[@pinkpantheonqueerhistory5699]

And thanks to the best efforts of people like IA's wife, the settlement will be free of homosexuals,.

[@cibulskia]

perfect spot for space trash

[@avi1enkin]

First

[@RegBarlow]

10 minutes in and I’m bored with the needless speculation, but I do have one question; what is the narrator’s accent?

[@carlospomares3225]

"I'm bored with the needles speculation" well this channel is not for you. Also he has speech impediment not a foreign accent. It is much more noticeable in the early years of this channel.

[@MattHasty]

What is that accent?

[@MattHasty]

"Whey-oh distances are great-or" - - It's kind of a North Carolina accent... but not exactly.

[@carlospomares3225]

He has a Speech Impediment

[@chongonugs]

Oh wow, the Gor series haaaaahahahahahahha man those were some terrible books. A few interesting plot points, but mostly just soft-core pr0n sci-fantasy pulp

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Oh my yes, they go down hill fast, worse than your typical vampire series. I remember reading the first two when I was younger and thinking they were okay but not too interesting. Options for scifi and fantasy at the local library and used bookstore were limited though so never read book 3, and someone year's later told me they got way better as the series progressed. Which sounded an entirely reasonable statement and you get kinda used to scifi having trashy covers too, so I went ahead and got another "Something of Gor" book, and was just as glad it was among the various scifi novels permanently borrowed by this or that friend.

[@apokatastasian2831]

50 shades of space

[@mahatmarandy5977]

I was told back in the ‘70s that L5 was considered ever so slightly moe desirable than L4 because it imparted a tiny bonus to any spacecraft launched from there heading to Mars or the Asteroids, whereas, owing to relative velocities or whatever, launching from L4 imparted a very slight disadvantage. No idea if that’s true or not, I’ve long ago learned not to trust things I read in Future magazine or Starlog, but that was the closest to an explanation as I ever got.

[@robertbyerlay5040]

Would it be the approach of the earth's mass affecting objects as they move out?

[@mahatmarandy5977]

@@robertbyerlay5040 I think, and I have to stress that I am just guessing about things I don’t really understand, but I think that it had to deal with the moon moving clockwise, And because it trailed the moon, L5 gave you more opportunity to be flung out into space than L4 did. If that’s true, and I suspect that it is not, then, the same logic might have meant that L4 better for visiting Venus and mercury. But I am 99% sure that I am wrong about this.

[@ColdHawk]

@@mahatmarandy5977​​ - Having recently looked around the WWW a bit and noted the tenor of modern discourse on the whole, I am wondering if I just read the most humble piece of speculation posted on the internet. Of course one might have anticipated it’d be right here, in the comments section of an SFIA video.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

@@ColdHawk wow, I have absolutely no idea what to say to that, other than ‘thank you.’

[@glensmith491]

5 was, at least back in the 70s, just considered a much cooler number than 4.

[@caitgems1]

I love coming home from a horrible days work and finding a new SFIA episode to make me chill out for a while. Cheers Isaac 🍻

[@UrdnotChuckles]

The Lagrange Triangle is a great concept! Can't wait to see that get used in fiction, and perhaps even in reality. :)

[@Vjx-d7c]

Happy Arthursday Fellow Viewer and Subscribers 🎉

[@chadvanderlinden9548]

Re: 16:44 - In Heppenheimer's "Colonies in Space" there was an explanation for the preference of L5 over L4 (Or the reverse, L4/L5), which had to do with being easier to get to (needed less fuel) due to the rotation of the system. So L5 would be ideal for space colonies, while L4 would be reserved for orbital power collectors, which would not need to be visited as often.

[@theragemachineau3855]

Always excited to see new ideas or concepts!! Great content

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

More to come!

[@halburd1]

yet you forget. there is nothing new under the sun.

[@seditt5146]

Frasier Cains gonna love this one

[@garlandgarrett6332]

So if we had "Sentinal" stations (manned or unmanned) to surveil our solar system (for aliens or asteroides, etc), would L2-L5 be the best locations and would that be enough? How about an entire video on monitoring and protecting our solar system?

[@muninrob]

What are you monitoring for, and what quality of sensors are you using? A single probe at the Mercury - Sol L2 would be able to look outward and sweep the entire system every 88 days.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

@@muninrob Back when Mercury always kept one face to the Sun, its Nightside was the coldest place in the Solar System. Mercury's L2 is still one of the coldest and darkest. Maybe the L2 of Mercury and an array of six or twelve in the Asteroid Belt, out far enough to be shut of the radio noise from Earth and Earth's densely populated Hill Sphere.

[@muninrob]

@@arcadiaberger9204 At the Mercury L2, you can let Mercury's orbital speed "sweep" your sensors (so you can be more passive, allowing a longer service life), and your transmissions home will be hidden from casual observers by the star's emissions.

[@garlandgarrett6332]

@@muninroblooking for rogue asteroids from outside our system( Intersteller) ie Oumuamua and potential dark objects and even alien ships/sensors. Sentinels with sensors good enough to discriminate the difference

[@UnityGoogle]

If i somehow got my hands on an SFIA badge or clip i would wear it no hesitation because Issac is undisputably the thing that revived my interest in outer space

[@bassmanjr100]

This episode is what I would call an instant Arthur classic. Solid science!!!!

[@nikolaforzane2285]

I stopped watching because of phrases like "We could [build a giant mirror...]. No. No you cant. Someone has to build that, but NATO wants world domination., so NO.

[@tekoneiric]

I wonder if there is somewhere in orbit that we could place something to give the Earth's polar region a day/night cycle in the summer, reducing the summertime ice melt. Maybe a giant radiometer like structure.

[@isaackellogg3493]

🎶 Oh, give me a locus where the gravitons focus Where the three-body problem is solved, Where the microwaves play down at three degrees K, And the cold virus never evolved. (chorus) CHORUS: Home, home on LaGrange, Where the space debris always collects, We possess, so it seems, two of Man's greatest dreams: Solar power and zero-gee sex. We eat algae pie, our vacuum is high, Our ball bearings are perfectly round. Our horizon is curved, our warheads are MIRVed, And a kilogram weighs half a pound. (chorus) If we run out of space for our burgeoning race No more Lebensraum left for the Mensch When we're ready to start, we can take Mars apart, If we just find a big enough wrench. (chorus) I'm sick of this place, it's just McDonald's in space, And living up here is a bore. Tell the shiggies, "Don't cry," they can kiss me goodbye 'Cause I'm moving next week to L4! (chorus)🎶 --Home on Lagrange (The L5 Song) © 1978 by William S. Higgins and Barry D. Gehm

[@brookestephen]

so why aren't we sending a cubesat to monitor every NEO? Is it budget?

[@runee7437]

Me n the boys chilling at L3

[@walterverlaan1286]

Excellent episode, as usual.

[@jwilliamsmith9316]

So this is what the ZZ Top song was about?

[@TheJadeFist]

The show Lexx/ Tales from A Parellel Universe, had 2 planets orbiting each other in the L-3 counter earth lagrange point. Which were Heaven and Hell, with the names Water and Fire. The show was much more comedic in nature, but Tim Curry plaed the devil if I recall correctly.

[@PhilipSmolen]

Is L3 real or just a mathematical curiosity? My math suggests that Jupiter and other planets would have so much more effect than the Earth at L3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWSQZa2Zjs5ld6s

[@isuckatusernames4297]

oh so that's what a lagrange point is. was kinda confised cause in french it means the barn point and I always imagined it meant it's a space in space where you store stuff. guess I wasn't that far.

[@cblimes]

omg isaac has elon musk had the pleasure of meeting you yet

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I suspect he's never heard of me, though one of his bigger investors at Space-X is fond of the show, we'd had dinner together at a conference a year and half back and exchanged notes on fun mega-engineering projects.

[@zrebbesh]

I was kind of frustrated about this one, because I can look up true and well-understood information on what Lagrange orbits ARE and the physics affecting them virtually anywhere. I'm far more interested in the consequences of those orbits on RESIDENTS and their likely local infrastructure and requirements etc. If it's about settlements, I'd rather hear interesting, well-grounded speculation about what's interesting about the settlers and cities than things I already know about the orbits they're proposed to be in. A few suggestions: consider the unique or interesting things L4/L5 residents would experience or have to watch out for or be able to take advantage of. Like the logistics, energy requirements, and safety concerns of maneuvering large masses (like asteroids) into or out of these orbits and converting them into habitats? Momentum requirements for station keeping, as reflected in a "momentum exchange market" for launching ships? Or what the consequences of local infrastructure on people's lives would be? Or arrangements that would allow them to meet practical concerns like collectors and agriculture dependent on sunlight toward the sun, heat dispersal on the shadowed side, and simultaneously having stable positions for the obligatory communications infrastructure facing Earth and the Moon? How about the consequences of special considerations for docking, launching, and cargo movement and their relationship to settlements on Near-Earth (roughly, Apollo, Aten, Amor, and Apohele groups) asteroids? How about their relationship to potential Aldrin cyclers making them a counterintuitive halfway point for journeys between Mars and Jupiter? Actually between ALL the inner planets, and the effect such exotic trade could have on their culture? All this is in addition to what's interesting or unique about people and their cultures on asteroid settlements or habitats in general.

[@EASYTIGER10]

Do we currently have the technology to get humans to a Lagrange point - specifically L1 and L2 - and back?

[@bkbland1626]

Absolutely. That's where JWST is at.

[@AnonymousAnarchist2]

had it for a long time now

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

We have the technology but lack the proper industry, infrastructure, and humqn spaceflight experience. We would need operational second generation super-heavy lift vehicles now - to life the very heavily shielded space vehicles we would need to use) - or we would need to be able to build or at least assemble such a vehicle in orbit now. On top of that, such a mission would be the longest non-orbital manned space mission ever by a huge margin. We just don't have experience with those sorts of mission, even if we had the ability to put the mission on right now. So, yes, we have the technology. But we do not have the capacity, and likely won't for a few decades.

[@EASYTIGER10]

@@bkbland1626 Yes but JWST isn't human and we don't currently plan to bring it back. :) I didn't know if we could safely do it with people, which is a lot more complicated

[@glennbabic5954]

The Earth -Sun L2 point does not shield JWST from the sun's glare or noise. Do you think it sits in Earth's shadow or something?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

No I tihnk it orbits the L2, and spends only part of its time in that shadow in order and in large part to stay cool, but I tihnk you might want to look this up since you obviously don't trust me

[@michaelstreeter3125]

Looking at the diagram at 18:34 it looks like any object at _precisely_ E-M L5 would accelerate along the gradient (perpendicular to the contour lines), coast through L1 _(exactly)_ and run up the contours to E-M L4... and go back again. Possibly forever. Is this the case?

[@francoiseeduard303]

I love this! Because of this channel my colony worlds will have planet swarms and Super-McKendree cylinders in at least the L4 & L5 points! We will thrive, large families with no worries of overpopulation!

[@808bigisland]

Inbreeding and subsistence farming in an orbital prison constantly threatend by tech fails, meteroids and hard radiation and zero g health effects. Large families of idiot farmers? The attrition rate will be huge.

[@tirlonburke9875]

and nobody's dog will leave presents on our lawns!!!

[@francoiseeduard303]

@tirlonburke9875 I guess there are small UGVs for that?

[@kashutosh9132]

​hey bro,you writing some story?

[@francoiseeduard303]

@kashutosh9132 No, just the worlds in my imagination and hopes for the future.

[@brookestephen]

don't all the objects in a lagrange point orbit eachother? If it's a gravitational pocket, where the attractive force of the large nearby bodies cancel, then how can they help but orbit eachother? Otherwise, they crash into one another!

[@digitalnomad9985]

The situation is dominated by the gravitation of the Earth and the Moon. Do you orbit around your truck?

[@brookestephen]

@@digitalnomad9985 thank you for your facile answer

[@brianzmek7272]

I have a use for earthoon L3 you can put one of the sub nodes of an interferometer telescope at L and the other at L2 you can even incorporate L4 & L5 in the array to gain resolution but not effective aperture size.

[@ryanrobbins2363]

Babe get up it's Arthursday

[@-whackd]

We need artificial magnetosphere are Mars le grange points to protect mars from radiation

[@vi6ddarkking]

A proposed solution to save Terra from the sun increasing brightness has been to place a massive F off asteroid in the L2 Lagrange Point and let its gravity slowly pull earth away from the sun. It's an interesting Idea. Although considering we'll also be during a fair bit of starlifting along with all the other star life extension technologies we'll implement over the next few billion years. It may become a rather redundant Idea.

[@hrpuff]

I was juat thinking of this topic couple days ago,this is gonna be good! Synchronicity 😂

[@caejones2792]

I'm imagining a Lagrange Diamond for Proxima c and Proxima Centauri. From what we currently expect of the system, I imagine c must already have plenty of icy Trojans, and this diamond would be, what, 4AU across? Would this accomplish anything of value, or just be a waste of material?

[@thetuerk]

5:17 Okay, I finally understood what they meant here. The spot where the Earth and Sun gravity cancel out 156.000 miles from earth which is closer to earth than the Moon. L1 INSTEAD lies 4 times further away from Earth that our Moon. I had to repeat that part like 10 parts until I understood it ;-;

[@hazonku]

Look out for L3, that's were the pretty ladies are actually space starfish trying to control Gamera.

[@Sherwoody]

🎶 Rumor spreadin' 'round In that Texas town About that shack outside La Grange And you know what I'm talkin' about Just let me know if you wanna go To that home out on the range They got a lot of nice girls Have mercy A-haw, haw, haw, haw A-haw, haw, haw, haw Well, I hear it's fine If you got the time And the ten to get yourself in A-hmm, hmm And I hear it's tight Most every night But now I might be mistaken Hmm, hmm, hmm Have mercy 🎶

[@kreynolds1123]

Space exploration and utilization needs to work towards spaceship refueling in low earth orbit! A spin launch like platform could launch buckets of water to a low earth orbiting refueling station cheaper than traditional rocket launches to get the rocket fuel mass up there in orbit. There, water may be split to hydrogen and oxygen to fuel for rockets destined for more distant missions. Cost to traditional rocketry benifit by launching without all the fuel it needs to get to its destination and the lower cost of spin launching the rocket fuel mass. After the spin launched orbital accelerators have delivered the water payload to the station, they might even be repurposed, refueled, and fixed to rockets launched from the ground, and thereby cost to traditional rockets may benifit further by eliminating an entire rocket stage from a traditional ground launched rocket. Spinlaunch's current suborbital launch platform could be built on the moon and launch materials with a near lunar escape velocity without interference from an atmosphere at substantially lower cost. Lunar spin launching raw materials to space will eventually play a huge part of building out Earth space infrastructure like solar power beaming to Earth, and mass for large tethered momentum transfer stations launches to Mars. I hope to see an episode along these lines, putting the idea into minds of those who may influence the future of space exploration and utilization. 😊

[@Seventeen_Syllables]

As is my practice I watched this on Nebula and came here to comment because there's no comment section on Nebula. As usual, I found it over there by a circuitous path. In this case, I couldn't find this one but did find the one that's up there but not here yet. No spoiler! Anyone who wants to see what comes next should join Nebula. The friendly CS rep informed me that they are working on more robust search features, so that problem should go away soon. Nebula has a "Next" button though, and this one was next. Speaking of L5, I was a member of the L5 Society back when it existed. I do not remember why they called it L5 as opposed to L4 or anything else, but there was an article about it. The reason was probably not very convincing and likely they preferred it because someone thought it sounded better. I'll wait for the next one to come out here to comment on it.

[@pappi8338]

I've been waiting for this episode!

[@HopDavid]

"... because that keeps the Earth between the telescope and the overwhelming glare and noise of the Sun." Are you saying the earth acts a sun visor protecting JWST? If so, that is incorrect. JWST is in a large halo orbit around the Sun Earth L2 point and never comes near the earth's shadow.

[@Texas240]

Does the distance of Proxima Centauri b's L1 work for protecting the planet from the star's activity?

[@whade62000]

"not just by having a smallo circfnss by virtoo of being fastor, but acooly moving fastor too." I'm sorry for making fun, this is great stuff, but the accent is mildly distracting to me... xD

[@horsemumbler1]

So, how'd you end uo here at L3? "I said I couldn't stand being on the same side of the Sun as them." "And?" "They said it could be arranged."

[@donkalzone6671]

Could such stations be used to store and refine material robots harvested from moons of other planets in our solarsystems? 24/7 🙃 access to solar and other kinds of energy could help to refine and compress valuable materials

[@nekomakhea9440]

Perhaps L1 stations could earn money as a "utilities provider" by deflecting solar wind radiation away with magnets or electromagnets for planets lacking magnetospheres, and by using shades and mirrors to block or concentrate solar light for weather manipulation or terraforming. Although you might have a situation where they close all the shades and block the sun because a planet didn't pay their sun bill.

[@GerbenWulff]

I just want to comment that NIR is a crucial part of the radiation spectrum, both for people and even more so for plants. If you filter out NIR, they will grow much slower.

[@DamonNomad82]

The Topopolis, also know as "The Galaxy's Largest Bed Spring"...

[@jonathanhensley6141]

Imagine a scyfy movie or series dealing with just the full industrialization and colonization of earth and the moon as well as the L pts and CIS lunar areas.

[@Phil-D83]

These are popular in the various gundam series

[@boobah5643]

They're pretty popular in any Scifi that has more than vaguely heard of orbital mechanics.

[@smileyface6583]

Zeon did nothing wrong…

[@hugh_jasso]

Unironically this is popping up around talks of what to do with the ISS and I propose moving it to a Lagrange orbit as a refueling station.