Bill Nye Explains the Science Behind Solar Sails | WIRED

[@WIRED]

Read more about the LightSail 2 Launch on WIRED.com: www.wired.com/story/spacex-is-launching-a-solar-sail-the-size-of-a-boxing-ring/ And to find out more about the mission and the Planetary Society, visit www.planetary.org

[@Derkenblosh2]

Bill's all about opinion pieces... Not science... Tired of seeing his biased unscientific opinions all over the net.

[@NeroNORirl]

What can we tell about Oumuamua so far? The calculations show that it is possible it had a solar sail.

[@drewdurant3835]

Science Revolution there’s so much wrong with what you’re asking.

[@Endersplitt]

Aliens: What is that shiny thing coming at us? Humans: Hello we are humans and this is our way to say hello *boom*

[@edwardkasimir8016]

I like how at 06:22 when he's talking about how this complicated machine works, they actually show how it works, but just for a brief 4 seconds.

[@AhmedHassan-sp1mx]

Yh without that I really wouldn't know what they're on about.

[@pamelapamper]

I really can't believe we've gotten to this level of deception by "The$cience" and utter stupidity by the masses. Can't ppl really tell this "technology" is nonsense?

[@ezioalditore5346]

8:16 The side of Bill we all love 😁

[@Us3r739]

He’s sadly a phony. Like Ellen. When the cameras are off he’s a completely different person

[@jmtx.]

Would've been a catastrophic catastrophe, cause Bill sez so. :-)

[@averagegeek3957]

@leicanoct Bill Nye was a mechanical engineer at Boeing. He helped developing the sundials on the Mars Exploration Rovers, he has written two books on science... And what have you done in your life except shitposting on the internet?

[@gothcoward857]

leicanoct shutup trash

[@IamINERT]

This could in theory reach 10% of light speed. Could reach our closest star in about 40 years

[@ohare7820]

9-40!? 💀 bro try 40-50

[@IamINERT]

@@ohare7820 what was i smoking. Yes about 40

[@pamelapamper]

It sails by catching "solar photons" aka regular light (masless) ?? 😂

[@hoonan1874]

@@pamelapamper HAHAHAHH SO FUNYYYYYYYYY

[@pamelapamper]

@@hoonan1874 it's not funny, it's sad that science has become such a joke, it's just a scam really. 😭

[@BenjiSun]

as a supporter of the first cubesat and will continue to support the endeavours of TPS, i'm so glad to see how far this has gone and people realizing how big of a change something so small can establish in our culture that's generally used to seeing astronaut-centric spaceflight.

[@mylittleciel]

Our science teacher still let us watch bill nye before he talk more about the lesson.

[@danielmconnolly7]

That's not a good thing.

[@CraigUntlNytTym]

I have never heard the term "momentum wheel"

[@neuron1618]

sounds like someone was just trying to reinvent the ... gyroscope

[@VOLAIRE]

“Sailing on sunlight” Absolutely revolutionary 👌

[@IAlwaysWantedToTryThat]

Except Arthur C. Clarke was writing about it 60 years ago, and this is like the 4th or 5th solar sail satellite, but yeah.

[@pamelapamper]

​@@IAlwaysWantedToTryThatyes bc this is not reality but these buffoons can't even come up with new ideas or at least, half credible ideas, unlike this dumb shite.

[@stevensteven4863]

World : CM,M,KM USA: loaf of bread , school bus

[@aozora7770]

My first thought when i saw him Bill Nye: "the planet's on F*CKING FIRE!"

[@melissalowry5147]

Omg same!!

[@joannot6706]

What about focusing sun light with arrays of giant curved reflecting sheets in space for this light sail propulsion system instead of power hungry lasers?

[@pierregabory8772]

Joannot Fampionona lazers focus in a line, lenses focuses in a point. You need continuous thrust to acheive high speeds.

[@joannot6706]

@@pierregabory8772 I know that, true. But earth is moving around the sun + turning around every day making lasers on earth available only part time, whereas an array around the sun would be continuous and stable since it would barely move. I think it's possible to adjust the focusing point of such system controlling individual panels with a simple differential equation to match the focusing point with the position of the light sail, and the energy needed to move this array would actually be tiny. Obviously I don't know enough to determine if it's a good idea but of the top of my head, it seems like there is no physical law making it impossible 🤔

[@pierregabory8772]

Joannot Fampionona changing the geometry would require knowledge of the position of the spacecraft with extreme precision. Which might be more difficult if its the size of a postage stamp.

[@joannot6706]

@@pierregabory8772 I agree it might be more difficult.

[@vagatronics]

Joannot Fampionona When it reaches the far outskirts of the solar system and even way before at around Mars it wouldn’t even reach the lightsail, ( atmosphere, distance )... lasers seem like the best idea.

[@superbuffguy100]

Is it bigger than a bread box? No.

[@Oli420X]

A loaf of bread.

[@singularity844]

BBC Office reference?

[@elizabeth-kh7jl]

it’s amazing that bill nye has and still is making a difference! his passion for science is inspiring.

[@addiction1425]

7:09 Bill: the problem with humans is they’re heavy. Me: 🥺

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Bill the Science Guy! Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill! Bill Nye the Science Guy. Science rules. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Inertia is a property of matter. Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill! Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill, Bill, Bill. T-minus seven seconds. Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill Nye the Science Guy!

[@heydaddy856]

Omg i love bill he helped me out in science class. Now science is my favorite subject

[@OnlyDoniaUKnow]

Nye is a natural in front of the camera. Your host? Kinda boring. Sorry, kid.

[@thegreatlongdingo]

Completely agree. He is very under whelming

[@justinterested1624]

He seems completely uninterested, like he's a robot that just want it done.

[@lokon1979]

The host is a writer, proof that you just can’t ask any random person to host (and people think being a KZbinr is easy). Probably edited by a writer too, the colour of the whole video is so dull.

[@abdulazizsamiev]

lokon1979 well they gotta KZbin channel and they got writers why not get someone actually good to host it

[@archerfn8665]

Science Revolution What?

[@janbelcher1896]

For someone with a vague scientific background, he's still pretty well versed on how it works which is great!

[@melvinch]

Clearly inspired by Count Dooku's Solar Sailer.

[@rasecno612]

Was looking for a comment like this hahaha

[@bantot1296]

1:45 The Sail becomes SWZZZT

[@Montie-Adkins]

There are some sail ideas based on absorbing rather than reflecting. I would like to know if you could essentially make a light solar sail into a solar power array and have it use that energy collected to power an ion thruster to get greater acceleration.

[@iKingRPG]

That's what I was thinking, but I guess it loses the benefit of moving extremely quickly

[@sunslap]

Bill Nye selling that space program as hard as he can.

[@gageT.]

Joostin Kookel he was asked to talk about it. So he is.

[@Anupamprime]

How would it slow down? When it reaches high speeds???

[@6Twisted]

Out of curiosity is it possible to use multiple sails/reflectors to generate thrust in different directions?

[@chiranjeeviboddapati]

it works with the help of sunlight pushing it and it is going opposite to sun so we cant put multiple sails because we cant get light the other side

[@EndyJR]

Alright, what happens when a tiny grain of dust flying through space at a decent speed collides with that 30 micrometer sail? It's not uncommon to find dust flying through space.

[@zakiNBG]

it might punch a hole in the sail. shouldnt be a big deal tho', since the sail is push based not acually blown. if it doesnt make it tear apart you'll hardly notice the speed difference since the sail is so huge.

[@EndyJR]

@@zakiNBG but what if it's a, let's say 0.5m by 0.5m tear? Wouldn't that change a lot? Especially since small debris traveling really fast can do some serious damage.

[@zakiNBG]

@@EndyJR not a scientist, just a space nerd. Such a big hunk would break the arms holding the sails or rip it clean off I guess. Also most likely make it spin like a beyblade 😂

[@EndyJR]

@@zakiNBG yeah but we're talking about dust, literally a grain of sand. If something like that were to be traveling at 110m per second it would pretty much annihilate the craft. And it isn't uncommon to come across small debris going that fast. 💩 And I'm not a scientist either so maybe I'm wrong or something.

[@mrRnf11]

You make the sail out of a type of material that dents, rather than tears. This has already been tested in the laboratory and you only really need a sheet of material a few microns (micrometers) thick to be practically invincible against dust.

[@ahemjunior]

We'll finally get to see space pirates...

[@ericpatton312]

Catastrophic catastrophe, well they dont call him Bill Nye the English guy I guess

[@RustyB5000]

I wonder what the max velocity of this would be? if it's pushed by light could it go close to the speed of light?

[@thomasreese2816]

It can get significantly faster than a rocket with propellant, but would require the spacecraft to be super tiny. Still wouldn't be even half-way to speed of light at best. Probably top out around 10% for the tiniest ship

[@AvidsForyou]

223,000 mph.

[@IamINERT]

I am so excited for these

[@stevergr9039]

Guys, I need your help. The basic principle is inertia, right? But how does lightsail 2 get any push by massless particles (photons)? If the mass is 0, the whole inertia equation equals 0. how is it pushed by it. Thanks guys, I appreciate your help understanding this.

[@rommdan2716]

Photons DO have mass, but actually no, it's a quantum thing.

[@pamelapamper]

Let me help u with that; this technology is nonsense, it's not a real thing, it's mostly about NASA "sailing" across the low IQ of the general public, all made possible by exponential levels of deceit and corruption within the world of academia and specially thanks to the insane stupidity of "quantum mechanics".

[@pamelapamper]

​@@rommdan2716a photon has no mass, stop.

[@fangsabre]

Is there any ways to make a spacecraft that uses a combination of this as well as ionic propulsion fit to carry humans across the solar system it even to other systems?

[@WolfSoundsHQ]

When will Solar sail launch?

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

My space agency NADA (which doesn’t mean nothing in Spanish) is the best

[@m218el7]

Kim Jong-un hey I saw you on another video

[@mustipunyaemail]

Kim Jong-un nuke space no?

[@sarveshkumarr8835]

Best leader SALUTE

[@SAEEDALYAFEY]

[Everyone (was forced to) like that]

[@nate3274]

If this prevents a natural disaster, is one enough? Lol I feel like we should have a army of these out there

[@otheraccount5252]

It can detect, not stop, CMEs.

[@nate3274]

other account yes but that should help us be prepared for the EMP which would destroy everything running on electricity that’s turned on (natural disaster). Difference between a weeks or several years worth of damage. And years worth would be catastrophic.

[@Daiceto]

3:53 A catastrophic catastrophe... oof that sounds ..... catastrophic.

[@ryansenterfit198]

BIlL NyE THe sCIencE GuY

[@staticglow8670]

It's might get damaged to the left over space debris. Then you'd have to conduct a space mission to go repair the wings of the spacecraft.

[@jacklarkson4505]

yeah stupid idea.

[@gogotaro1]

I loved Bill Nye the science guy

[@tobioyebade5571]

Watching this in tandem with the 3 body problem

[@mizFahrenheit]

Bill Nye is the man.

[@morlnsk]

I am a simple men: i see Bill Nye in the title and on the thumbnail - I click.

[@BlueOriginSFS]

What if you build a big lazer connect to the light sail behind it a bit far behind it but not connected with strings or anything like that but like metal would it have thrust or not?

[@GPSTrackingReview]

I will always love Bill!

[@fadedark8958]

Man Bill 9 the science guy has sure have aged.

[@Turnabout]

Yeah, he's been on television for thirty years. That kind of thing can happen

[@creeib]

we hear lot about super fast systems for space travel. However. I don't see much about slowing them down on arrival.

[@thinkalittlemore9738]

Why does Bill Nye look like a Tim Burton clay figure.. I love it

[@marcvince1261]

Is oumuamua the jaxta lightsail?

[@morpheuslordofoneiroi3293]

Yes, I've seen a boxing ring on "the" TV. That one box with the clicker and the power cord and the 600ft antennas. The solar sail is pretty dope though.

[@thelibyanplzcomeback]

The question is... even if a spacecraft can reach Proxima Centauri in just 4 years, will our signals be strong enough to contact it?

[@gingsSon]

He didn’t mention it, but everyone should look up Radiation Pressure to understand how it actually works.

[@johannaschonberger6182]

He still wears the bow tie 💖

[@h773M]

Thumbnail: Old Dr. Strange (FaceApp) 🤣

[@k.h6635]

can someone explain why the camera that attached on solar sail didn't froze all the time ?

[@SkidMcmarxx]

kuncoro hadi the heat as nowhere to go to.

[@sarajandali]

Literally no one: Let's bring Bill Nye

[@nolack5432]

Best decision

[@Muradsahar]

WHAT IS PRESSURE THAT THAT YOU CAN GET ON ALL THAT SURFACE?

[@igorastral4816]

Bill Nye, please construct the biggest and highest space elevator possible with the current technology available. I truly believe you and a couple of others if you put your mind into it you absolutely can do it, you absolutely should do it. This event will change this era of evolution in the next one, I believe so

[@paulharland7280]

I wonder if solar sail craft could get a boost by traveling along the gravitational focal lines where the light of distant stars would be concentrated by gravitational lensing.

[@grimm_comics]

"The Air Force is involved in this.." So its fair to say the military is at the forefront of technological development.

[@davidvanniekerk3813]

Dankie/ Merci Drs the video was very informative. 1977 is some time ago. The word was then quite different.

[@vexethemagician1517]

Treasure planet vibes

[@lorriecarrel9962]

When the photons hit the sail,how much are the photons red shifted?

[@pamelapamper]

A photon isn't a physical thing. You would have better luck with a cretin sail propelled by ur cretinous low IQ and credulity.

[@frankiezzzz9937]

Just looks like a old doctor strange

[@Antologists-mj3dj]

why they look the same

[@furretar6484]

He's like a mirror!

[@RexWort]

It's his clone!!!

[@DarkDriverHD]

5:45 Sail Stowage

[@tommylyeah]

"Stow away" to stow away something. stowage.

[@sridharch1478]

Who knew kites will one day replace rockets😁

[@Jelkiin]

Does iT litteraly just, push? Like, actually PUSH? That’s cool

[@coliop1509]

Why do people think this guy ain’t smart? This guy’s fuckin smart.

[@f.miller801]

**pretends to be understanding**

[@OculusQuestFun]

A great application for the “stronger material..that can hold it’s structural integrity better” is nano technology with, perhaps nanobots for repair.

[@pakratmiz4487]

Theodore Irelan that sounds cool but I do t think nano tech is advanced enough to be practical yet

[@Goodburger364-wb2yd]

We're going to Cardassia with this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@michaelsaid8883]

This is incredible. Science has advanced so much.

[@mrnobody.4069]

So when we Master fusion technology to get fusion reactors why don't we build a massive spacecraft with massive engines and then they have solar sail materials inside and they shoot the thing with high powered lasers thus the craft itself propelled we could also use gyroscopic forces to steer The Craft it could be the real life USS Enterprise

[@JohnnyShagbot]

Solar sails for a human-scale ship would be measured in kilometers in width, probably quite a few of them. If you have mastered fusion power then solar sails aren't really necessary anymore.

[@mrnobody.4069]

@@JohnnyShagbot I don't think it would be that hard and that big you know about those things that rotate whenever you shine a flashlight on them they using the measure the amount of light you can get those things spinning kind of fast depending on the flashlight you're using or if you have them outside and technically you wouldn't need a fusion reactor you could use a RTG the same thing that powers the Mars rovers and the Voyager spacecraft and have that charged alternating ultra capacitors that would power a high-powered Lazer which can be crazy efficient even at the focal point I think I'll be more effective than the ion drive and would require no fuel.

[@louisgenin1038]

Title is somewhat misleading... This explores how the craft was engineered rather than the physics of how photons can propel the spacecraft

[@crunch9876]

Louis Genin well bill is an engineer....

[@trentwebb521]

What about a self seficient solar sail, one that creates light on it and then uses that light to propel or slow its self? Or does that defy physical inertia laws?!?!?

[@beginnerbuilders]

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill Nye the Science Guy!

[@motorizedbicyclenation53cu90]

What if light is the reason we are in orbit? And gravity is just a form of advanced enertia?

[@deepsy2k]

You gotta love this guy!

[@LilGuch2]

I’m a proud member 🇺🇸

[@JackGordon]

"can entropy be reversed?" "As of yet there is insufficient data for a meaningful answer"

[@אדםעלהירח]

We are nothing without science...

[@neilmurphy6136]

The earths pull cancelles out all the effect that are tiny anyways they would need to go much farther

[@coreyh144]

Where can I get that jacket Bill is wearing?

[@desipuspitaanggraeni93]

At first i thought he was Benedict Cumberbatch omg 😥

[@kaylyn7981]

He’s so old now 😢🥺

[@jperschino]

In order to accommodate humans, maybe one could be built in space? Could the sails be 'tuned' to use the suns energy as a 'repellent'?

[@rickharold7884]

Awesome. Love it !

[@rllasuarez8519]

Here before bill was arrested flrm drug dealing

[@MrJdsenior]

Cool experiment, and the engineering challenges for a much larger sail to actually sail (at least augment, obviously) something practical, like a communicating probe, out of our solar system and into another one 4 light years away, or more, is intense. Turns out the sail works both sides increasing speed OUT of SOL's solar system, and REDUCING it into the Proxima Centauri system, a nearly required/almost a given first target. Now THAT would be cool science, as we currently know basically NOTHING about the system, and think about an EIGHT year out and back communications, link, where light for the first time in an experiment seems UNGODLY SLOW...the probe would have to be basically AI driven, at least in limited functional areas, ABSOLUTELY fully autonomous, and we'd finally get to see what it would be seeing currently when it finally DID get there, would be received four years later...pretty amazing stuff. Our tech is just about getting there to do this in most areas, as far as I can see, and given a directed "thrust" (see what I did there?) "we" could conceivably at least "notionalize" such a mission...now the WILL required to actually begin the functional H/W & S/W, who knows? But the science!!! Outside the span of my lifetime, almost certainly, to finish the mission, but possibly within those just being born now, given chemical, ion, solar sail, and possibly nuclear powered drives, or something not yet known, though I suspect FTL either not doable, or a LONG way down the road, assuming "civilized" humanity lasts that long, which I find doubtful at present.

[@dennisnorsherd5868]

Quite the too do for the lightest thing that NASA has ever sent to space! Thanks Bill!

[@darksars3622]

BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL

[@ross-carlson]

In an age where so many deny the reality of our existence for bronze age fairy tales about zombie sky daddy we're so fortunate to have people as brilliant as Nye and other scientists that there is hope for our species. Well done!!!

[@JonDoe-dz9tn]

The reality of our existence would be, that Earth's alleged curvature is never seen obstructing the line of sight to distant objects which should be hundreds of feet below the horizon line if the Earth were a sphere. No ridiculous religion needed, just simple long distance photography that anyone can witness for themselves with their own eyes this flat plane on which we live on.

[@GameReality]

Do you have any plans to build hundreds of space reflectors to reflect and focus more sunlight to your sun sail spacecrafts?

[@OculusQuestFun]

We need to make sure that man has continued access to a quantum computer.

[@NASHITHASAN]

The Science Guy

[@deltanovember1672]

Wouldn’t a spacecraft using a sail be extremely vulnerable to space debris?

[@idontthinkso2431]

Space debris in interplanetary space are extremely rare, for that small spacecraft.

[@deltanovember1672]

I don't think so Right ok. An orbit around Earth might be full of debris but not interplanetary travel. Thanks.

[@taisenscoolstuff732]

It's great to see Bill Nye doing what he does best

[@defentlynothere]

I grew up watching Bill Nye. 😊 showing my age here. Weired how light can cause momentum

[@hopemay7537]

You couldn't have found a 30-something that would have actually been excited to be in the presence of Bill Nye the motherfucking Science Guy? Blasé fetus.