Titan's Dragonfly Test // New Nuclear Rocket // Shadow Universe

The Titan Dragonfly is coming together, NASA is considering a new kind of nuclear rocket, getting more warning for solar flares, and pinpointing carbon emissions from space.
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00:00 Intro
00:15 Titan Helicopter Starts to Come Together
www.universetoday.com/159611/...
02:38 New NIAC Nuclear Rocket Design
www.universetoday.com/159599/...
05:57 Lunar Flashlight Has Propulsion System Problems
07:25 Solar Flashes and Flares
09:36 CO2 from Space
www.universetoday.com/159580/...
11:21 Support us on Patreon
12:40 Orphaned Protostar
www.universetoday.com/159539/...
14:27 Measuring the Universe with Shadows
www.universetoday.com/159543/...
16:26 Outro
Host: Fraser Cain
Producer: Anton Pozdnyakov
Editing: Artem Pozdnyakov
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You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

[@dathyr1]

if I am still around in 2034, I will be 85 years old. I can always hope to see what Titan actually looks like. Thanks for the information.

[@thomasdickson35]

Hope to see you there! I'm excited too.

[@rogertulk8607]

So you were born in 1949 too, eh? I may make it to 80, I'm less sure about anything past that. I hope we both get to see what . Titan looks like.

[@mikegLXIVMM]

A lot is finally happening in space travel. The kind of progress I hoped for when I was about 12 or so. Now I'm 59. I hope I can stay around for a while longer so I can see some of it.

[@draco2xx]

nobody can predict tomorrow, tomorrow is not promised which means you may not be around in 2034. just saying🤷🏽‍♂️

[@adnelortiz]

Imagine power going down for a month ... in Puerto Rico we call that a Tuesday.

[@frasercain]

It's got to be so tough going through those power disruptions. :-(

[@WilhelmFreidrich]

Tuesday is a month in your country?

[@yurinator4411]

@@WilhelmFreidrich Apparently.

[@carterhicks7441]

I feel like the images we get out of titan are going to be unlike any world we've probed so far. When the huygens probe got that grainy, distorted foortage of its touchdown; I still was amazed.

[@datsmay]

The Dragonfly mission to Titan is something I’m really looking forward to. Isn’t it a shame that Dragonfly won’t be visiting one of the lakes or oceans just to take some awesome pictures? Why is that?

[@colinrousseau8803]

I'd love that too, like so much. I want to see a methane breathing lezard!!

[@LucasFerreira-gx9yh]

mostly engineering and technical reasons, what i remember is that north pole where the lakes are will be in winter with no sunlight and not pointing at earth, they don't have a orbital relay around saturn

[@skookapalooza2016]

How did I miss this gem of a channel?!! I'll get ALL notifications now. Space geeks unite!!!

[@dannygjk]

It's Canadian.

[@olivergrumitt2601]

I believe the main reason why Dragonfly will not visit the methane lakes on Titan is that the lakes, found mostly nearly the North Pole, will be in darkness at the time when Dragonfly arrives, making exploring them just about impossible. So Dragonfly will arrive at the wrong time of the Titan Year as far as exploring the lakes is concerned. There may be a few lakes in the equatorial regions where Dragonfly is headed but if Dragonfly does find any and explodes them, it will be a matter of luck and not intention. This is still a very exciting mission and if all goes well. Dragonfly will make so many wonderful discoveries and add our knowledge of Titan immensely. We shall just have to wait and see!

[@LucasFerreira-gx9yh]

the lakes can't explode, the reason methane burns on earth is because of oxygen

[@durango-CODEBUILDER]

This is exactly what I needed right now

[@johnpatterson8697]

I hear Titan's atmosphere is so dense, You could fly an Ornithopter in it

[@smorrow]

Atmosphere so dense and gravity so low.

[@jedi4049]

Frasier, thanks for what you do. This stuff is all cool af.

[@absalomdraconis]

Fraiser, a correction to the video: being an octo-copter (or a hex copter, a quad copter, etc.) does not prevent a vehicle from being a helicopter. In fact, the inclusion of "copter" in the description implies that it _is_ a helicopter. There are things that can prevent a vehicle from being a helicopter (being a tilt-rotor, being just a normal plane, having unpowered rotors, etc.), but as long as there's at least one rotor, rotor count is _not_ one of those things.

[@ReggieArford]

So an autogyro, with a rotating but unpowered rotor/wingset, is not a kind of helecopter?

[@jajahaha3215]

@@ReggieArford A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors.

[@onebylandtwoifbysearunifby5475]

...it's not a Unicopter. (Which I'm told is the preferred transport of affluent unicorns.)

[@vvanderer]

ROFLCOPTER

[@vvanderer]

@@ReggieArford no an autogyro is a different animal

[@apm9475]

You won't have to wait that long ! Expected arrival on Titan 2034 ! So only 11 years lol .

[@patrickday4206]

Man that's awesome it seems like so much weight to get into orbit for the nuclear power propulsion!

[@DanielRisacher]

Love to hear your take on fission fragment rockets.

[@fredmcconnelliii]

This is an amazing time for space exploration. I am sure people will be saying this for generations on, but the innovation and growth is exciting.

[@jamesdubben3687]

The TDT! Great to hear about that tunnel, enjoyed some time there.

[@voxxclamantis9668]

Awsome, this is the kind of thing which cn be a game changer for Mars exploration too

[@MCsCreations]

Thanks for the news, Fraser! 😊 I fly quadcopters, but never flew an octo... Should be interesting. Now they're building big octacopters they call cinelifters, to carry those big cameras used for cinema and so on. Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@lawrenceiverson1924]

WOW!!! Those are serious rotors !!!

[@CaliforniaBushman]

I so hope the nuclear rocket plan works out. 45 days to Mars would be better than any movie.

[@Chris.Davies]

10:00 - Good to see New Zealand contributing exactly 0.0% CO2.

[@toby9999]

Interestingly, many do make that claim but it's not quite true. Creative accounting. Ironically though, much of their electricity generation comes from hydro power schemes, those same schemes environmentalists tried to shut down before they were even built decades ago. Yes, NZ is lucky. There are lots of ways to generate power from renewables. Most countries aren't so fortunate.

[@yolamontalvan9502]

Professor, I subscribed. Your information about the Earth status is amazing.

[@chrissscottt]

Thanks for the news!

[@ingemar_von_zweigbergk]

that which looks like a black rip in reality a few decimeters in length that sometimes appears a few meters away from me in the night is quite beautiful

[@VAXHeadroom]

Big fan of nuclear thermal, thanks for covering it! There's a problem with getting to Mars faster though - the 6 month transfer time allows for a free-return-trajectory should you miss your Mars orbital insertion (MOI) burn. A faster transit time does not. If you get there in

[@christycoffman]

Interesting topics and good info! Thanks

[@kittywampusdrums4963]

I'm excited for the Titan 'copter!

[@jan_phd]

The new Fusion pulse generators, would make a nifty spaceship propulsion system.

[@adamweirdworldview659]

You do a great job..thanks

[@Kirhean]

I wonder if there's a way to arrange such a hybrid rocket such that the ejected mass is also accelerated by the ion drive, getting more bang for the buck essentially.

[@bbbenj]

Thanks for these news

[@76rjackson]

Titan's super cold, dense atmosphere is just crying out for a fleet of balloons drifting through it's sky powered by nuclear batteries or such and supplemented with a mini wind powered dynamoes. Use titan's own atmosphere to fill the balloons then just heat things up a bit. Balloons have the potential to last years and could be networked.

[@andyglatiotis619]

Imagine what would happen if a solar maximum coincided with a collapse of the earth's magnetic field during a pole reversal event. It looks like the magnetic field is heading towards a reversal event quite soon.

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

Excellent video, like!

[@ryann6919]

Titan mission seems so amazing. Can't wait!

[@carlsmith5545]

Yeah the mighty United States of America can build rockets to boldly go where no man has gone before but they still can't build highspeed rail for improvement of infrastructure.

[@ryann6919]

@@carlsmith5545 why not do both and just....not have a war for a decade?

[@carlsmith5545]

@@ryann6919 Because the so called mighty United States of America dosent know how to do that.

[@ryann6919]

@@carlsmith5545 agreed. And that is going to be our downfall, just like Rome. Maybe one day we will learn

[@Chumfin]

Probably my favourite show on KZbin

[@ricardoabh3242]

Fun and interesting as always

[@dougcoombes8497]

There are some fast spectrum molten salt reactors under development right now that may be well suited for the kind of combined nuclear powered rocket being proposed here. They run at very high temperature and in some cases like the Elysium reactor will use table salt as the liquid medium in the reactor. That design will also be simplified compared to some other designs, it's basically an empty reactor vessel "can" with heat exchangers. The fluid salt both contains the fissile material and is pumped from the reactor into the heat exchangers to provide heat to electrical generators or in this case also to heat propellant. The first iteration of the Elysium reactor will run at over 600 degrees celsius and later versions with high temperature alloy vessels made with hastelloy at over 1,300 degree celsius.

[@GlennJTison]

Fast spectrum is the hot topic in reactors, but not a mature technology... I don't know if molten salt rectors is going to be easily compatible with radiative cooling or mission weight scale any time soon. . That usually means sub-critical mass reactors and neutron mirrors. Might be good for the first manned mission to Jupiter, though.

[@dougcoombes8497]

@@GlennJTison The Elysium team is highly experienced from decades designing nuclear reactors for the US Navy, it is basically the entire team from the Knollls Atomic Power Labs. Their goal is rapid certification, it's not going to be that long before they have a working reactor. The fuel cycle processing is far simpler than most, as it involves dropping chopped up SNF into molten salt. Plus the addition of the needed plutonium to bring it up to critical concentration in the salt. When Kirk Sorensen was at NASA doing research on possible nuclear reactors for use in space he focused on MSRs for their ability over other designs to use radiative cooling. It's where the current interest in molten salt reactors started. Molten salt reactors themselves date back to the 1950s and were first built to power bombers. They have been operated in flight in B-36s. This is mature technology and it would seem highly suited for use in space. The Elysium design is highly dependent on the use of reactor can geometry and neutron reflectors to operate. It should scale well both in size and weight for use in space.

[@jan_phd]

The new Fusion pulse generators, would make a nifty spaceship propulsion system.

[@saumyacow4435]

The Elysium reactor is a nice design, but any nuclear propulsion system will end up with tens of tonnes of shielding. And then if you're doing nuclear-electric you need a heat engine and that requires a very large and massive radiator. All of which steals from the theoretical advantage.

[@saumyacow4435]

@@CoruscationsOfIneptitude At least. That's the problem with neutrons. You need a lot of mass to stop them.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Good video - no loud music ruining it

[@MH-uc7zt]

45 days to mars is an incredible 253000 miles per hour! Now that's movin'

[@whitefink7090]

Yep, if anything or anyone is left it'll be awesome. Good job Brandon.

[@Guiterminator]

9:32 thank you for that

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I've been reading up on nuclear-powered rockets and such for as long as they've been being even hinted at, because this kind of science absofreakinglutely fascinates me. And now the nuclear-powered copter to explore Titan‽ That one makes me want to jump up & down with excitement! SIX WEEKS to Mars‽‽ Holy freaking _~bleeping bleepety bleeping bleep,~_ that's so incredibly cool! What a crazy cool idea!! But I hope they can figure out the moon craft to get it where it needs to be. The solar flare thing... that could make such a CRAZY huge difference for us! Having weather warnings for getting a few days longer time to get prepared would be so helpful! If only catching those promise-breakers would have some sort of weight behind it, some kind of fines, at minimum, it would make all of these abilities meaningful. The fetal stars are fascinating, but the shadow thing made a Doctor Who episode come to mind, with the monsters called the Vashta Nerada, and the warning phrase "count the shadows!" Thanks for the coolness, Fraser! ❤️❤️

[@carlsmith5545]

Lol!! The mighty United States of America can spend billions to boldly go where no man has gone before but they still can't build highspeed rail for improvement of infrastructure, how about building something that will save the american people money on their electric bill? Is their something the United States government can do to ease the cost of living? How about spending those billions to feed the american people who are homeless and hungry? Use those billions to better living conditions for the american people? Oh hell no! Let's spend the billions of dollars to put some fool on mars, a planet that doesn't even belong to man. You'll never catch me placeing my hopes and dreams on the shoulders of no man. Never catch me voting for no man.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@davidkeenan5160]

Thanks

[@DataSmithy]

More NIAC please!

[@zachcrawford5]

Hey Frasier, shadow astronomy sounds really "cool" but how do astronomers tell the difference between a genuine shadow caused by a foreground object on the CMB verses a temperature variation in the CMB itself? Also, is shadow astronomy done with other cosmic background spectra (radio, X-ray ect,)?

[@rennrodriguez8909]

It's about time. Nuclear Power is the way to go.

[@laurachapple6795]

Chef's kiss for Anton's use of memes.

[@kuingul]

😉

[@johnstephens6052]

Awesome content!!!!

[@ridleyroid9060]

You say a month of no power would suck but...a month of no light pollution sounds darn tempting

[@frasercain]

Worth it...

[@jennifergidden9884]

I prefer pulsar's option. How about a week or better yet using the electric charge of the solar wind.

[@zenoc6715]

Got to admit this will be interested

[@kimepp2216]

I would expect a docking station orbiting Mars would be required for this to work. The cargo would be delivered to the surface by a local shuttle system.

[@alanjenkins1508]

A thermal nuclear rocket does not have higher thrust, but higher specific impulse. This means the total deltaV achievable is higher.

[@Gs112780]

Thanks. Fun channel 👍🏻

[@lorenbrown3150]

My understanding has always been that nuclear thermal propulsion is lower thrust than chemical propulsion, but higher specific impulse. The higher specific impulse is the advantage of the NTR because it can gain a higher velocity while using less fuel.

[@rsdna9698]

You are correct, and he should correct the video, NTRs will never have the trust-to-weight ratio of chemical rockets. NTRs will only be used in space after the chemical rockets get you there from the ground.

[@Healitnow]

We used a helecoptor on Mars but this is a temprature range that we know how to work with composites that will not shatter in the cold. Titan is no where near this warm, and I wouder if the equipment would shatter if it was bumped even a little?

[@bizzmoneyb]

a big enough solar flare could be an extinction event. the power lines would melt, and the transformers will explode. planes will fall from the sky. in 2012, there were 3 that missed us by less than 150k miles.

[@TheGhungFu]

For everything space weather related including solar storms, I highly recommend subscribing to TamithaSkov, the space weather lady. Great early warnings for solar flares, etc..

[@bencoad8492]

I think your under estimating the power of super solar flares, if you look at the 1859 carriton one it set the telegraph machines and wires on fire, if one of those hit today it would mostly likely would send us back to pre electricity state especially since our magnetic filed is actually failing, down around 20% and this is speeding up.

[@roncaldwell699]

these ideas are interesting for running around our solar system and developing robotic systems for planet exploration which is really about mining operations for large multi-national companies that will create new industries and plenty of jobs generating and repairing the many space vehicles that will be necessary.

[@Top_Weeb]

I still can't believe they aren't going to visit the Methane lakes. Maybe during the extended mission...

[@marcsmyrl8788]

I agree -- Does anyone know the reasons behind that choice ?

[@_shadow_1]

Titan has to be one of the most interesting objects in the solar system because it has a lot of similarities to earth. I would even say that aside from its cold temperature and lower gravity, it is the most earth-like object in the solar system on it's surface and the only one other than earth that a human could actually stand on without a pressure suit. Although to be fair, you would still need to be very well insulated from the cold and certainly have a supply of oxygen to breath which could possibly be combustible in the Titanian atmosphere. Also while I don't think it would be immediately harmful, there is no way of knowing what the long term effects of skin exposure or trace inhalation of the actual contents of Titian's atmosphere would be until a human far braver than I am goes on what might be a one-way trip to that moon and lives there long enough to find out.

[@reaganr652]

15:28 Does anyone have any idea what effect that is? I couldnt find it on google

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

2:20 yea but if something goes wrong and it fails, we will have to wait for another 20-30 years until another Titan mission.

[@alan2here]

I'm ok with modest adds if you moderate them, so no "buy this scam" or "the energiser annoyance just keeps on and on" nonsense, I'm not adverse to add funding if diverse and tasteful.

[@MD-xb5jt]

NERVA was never truly cancelled; but they wanted us to believe that it was. Think about that for a while...

[@markdenboer2567]

Hey Fraser - awesome prresentation & info!! FYI, in case no one ever told you, without the goatee you could EASILY pull off an awesome Richard Dreyfuss from close encounters !

[@ashnur]

The problem with the analogy of the Sun / CMB is that we have a much better understanding of the light coming from the Sun than from the CMB. After all, if you mis-guess the level of CMB then your shadows will have more or less information in them.

[@bozo5632]

What's the advantage of dual propulsion?

[@Richard.blackburn]

Amazing! Science Fiction is becoming Science Fact in front of our eyes 👀

[@1pcfred]

If you want real science fiction check out the national debt. That stuff is unreal!

[@septegram]

"That would suck." Starting the Understatement Olympics strong, I see...

[@n721sw]

Lord Fraser, I wish it will be there in 10 years, but you know how NASA is with delays, I sadly will probably be dead. Love your content brother

[@alexanderkuhn2298]

Nuclear thermal rockets dont have quite the thrust that is possible with chemical rockets. What you are thinking about is the specific impulse, in other words how long you can burn the engine before running out of fuel. Maintaining a low thrust for a long, long period of time can get you to places much faster due to efficiency.

[@user-ze3lk1ov5b]

No words only results.

[@rolflandale2565]

3:38 that was the flaw in human history with nuclear, they were using nuclear🔋cell, to power a dinky 🏟 size mono halogen lamp 🔦 . As merely *storage* time. When ion/plasma could've been nuclear *amp thrust* booster. Offering less idle time, regen & a conservative gravity 0.5 to 1.5 gforce comfort in exponential accel.

[@allanchurm]

subscribed

[@bigjay875]

I had herd a few years back that type of battery was just about out of radioactive materials

[@CeresKLee]

I wonder if a thermal nuclear rocket can be fabricated so as well the nuclear fuel is spent, it might provide a source of plutonium-238 to make it into radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG)? So handy on those long lunar nights or power beyond the orbit of Jupiter - or even in Martian dust storms!

[@bob456fk6]

The nuclear powered rocket sounds very exciting! That will be major, major breakthrough in space travel. The solar flare is scary! That will happen...someday. We do need ample warning.

[@ThomasWeissJr]

if we ever encounter aliens.. Alien: That's nice that you figured out how to build airplanes and helicopters! I'm sure safety is the most important thing when you're designing these machines right? Human: Well, kind of. We like safety but we also like money and spending too much time on safety means the process costs more.. They're still pretty safe overall.. Alien: Oh, but surely after an accident you stop using them until you figure out the cause right? Human: Well we do an investigation to try and find the cause but we usually keep using the aircraft while it's going on.. If the same type of aircraft crashes again and again most of the time we agree to stop. Alien: I see.. Oh and looks like you guys mastered nuclear power? That's pretty exciting for your species! Human: Well, I wouldn't say "mastered", sometimes there are accidents... Alien: Oh..? Human: Yeah, if we can't stop the reaction before a certain point it gets completely out of control and causes a ridiculous amount of damage that lasts for a very long time.. The material itself is also incredibly dangerous and if it's not properly contained it'll kill any organism it comes in contact with including human beings. Alien: And you decided to use this technology to travel to other planets, launch unmanned aircraft powered by this technology, and potentially have one of these 'accidents' causing a great deal of long lasting damage that you can't clean up?.. Yeahhh, now I understand why the other interstellar civilizations decided not to make contact with you...

[@biobillionairwill731]

Really cool stuff....don't want it to light-up the methane!

[@jamesgodfrey1322]

Voyager 1 and 2 used Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUs) as power supply old tech growing up

[@Lilmiket1000]

I love how you identify your days passed by nice pleasant peaceful sleeps, instead of every terrifying agonizing day as everyone falls to their deaths around us and we sit waiting frightened patiently awaiting our turn. 😂

[@NormReitzel]

A Nitpick: The launch window to Mars is not "When it's closest to us" - It's "When it will be closest to us when we get there." Not -quite- the same.

[@planetsec9]

I seriously hope that by the time Dragonfly is ready to fly there's different options around like expended Starship or electric sails or plasma magnet sails to shorten that travel time significantly so the science (and images) can be gotten sooner and the MMRTG can perform for longer on Titan rather than wasting precious energy in a 6 year long coast phase, this current paradigm relying on many multiple gravity assists to do all the work is so inefficient and wasteful and probably adds a lot to the cost because they have to ensure the spacecraft and probe can survive the long coast phase.

[@WilhelmDrake]

Much of Asia's emissions are used to produce goods for Western Markets. We've basically exported our emissions to other nations.

[@tedarcher9120]

Nuclear thermal rocket is also the only type of engine that can get astronauts back from mars

[@mnemosynevermont5524]

Watch "Don't Look Up" again. No amount of warning will convince people to take the risks necessary to protect the grid in time.

[@jari2018]

imagine the nuclear reactors not working and the disel generators used to deliver electrisity due to modern electronics are fried - so use stoneage disel generators then there is the matter how to get disel after weeks of shutdown - I guess politicians has misgudged a solarflare and what it can do

[@JJs_playground]

Wow, Mars in 45 days. That's incredible. Let's get this done.

[@saumyacow4435]

So long as you don't mind being nearly weightless during that time...

[@rustyshackleford234]

People on the ISS are weightless for 6 months…

[@saumyacow4435]

@@rustyshackleford234 They lose a lot of muscle strength and bone mass and arrive back on Earth in need of rehabilitation. That's fine when you've got the resources available on Earth. It's not fine when you're landing on Mars.

[@williamb9389]

How is a helicopter able to operate on titan, when there isn’t any air?

[@frasercain]

It has an atmosphere that's twice as dense as Earth

[@Bordondental]

Great 👍

[@reconnaissance7396]

If I'm lucky to live until 2034 and if the dragonfly successfully throws back images in titan, I will definitely go back to this channel and take a look back where this comment of mine I have posted!

[@nunyafunyuns]

This is awesome. Too bad it won't visit the methane seas though, that would really be something to feast your eyes on.

[@rustyshackleford234]

There are some smaller lakes across the equator, perhaps they could visit one?

[@nunyafunyuns]

@@rustyshackleford234 I hope they do 👍

[@phil20_20]

Looking more and more like, Discovery...

[@Borriqua1]

Reminds me of Pivotal Universe on Amazon.

[@philochristos]

I hope I'm still around in the 2030's.

[@1pcfred]

Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.

[@acmelka]

Power out for a month? That's a rosey outcome. A Carrington event might take things down for years. The whole electric infrastructure industry depends on electricity