Search


	Podcast:		4. Chemistry and Physics
	Episode:		Future of Space Exploration
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:09
	Publish Date:		2011-07-13 18:54:53
	Description:		Transcript: Humans will continue to explore space. In part they will do that for visionary reasons because it inspires us, and in part for pragmatic reasons. Global telecommunication depends on space travel, and we depend on global telecommunication. The fundamental basis of rocketry has not changed for seventy years. It is the chemical rocket. The Saturn 5 that took the men to the moon depended on burning kerosene and oxygen with the byproduct of water. Chemical rockets are not highly efficient, and research is underway to find more efficient energy sources which will in turn reduce the cost of space travel. Ionic systems are under development, and it may be possible, once in a low-Earth orbit, to use solar sails. It sounds like science fiction, but physicists are even speculating about the use of matter-antimatter as a propulsion device that would be the most efficient we could possibly come up with. Either way, it looks like our future is likely to be in space.
	Total Play:		0