Travelers in the Night Eps. 863 & 864: Space Elevator & Lunar Debris

0:00It's the 365 days of astronomy podgang coming in 3, 2, 1. The asteroid series along with Pluto, Hameia, make-make and aries are dwarf planets in our solar system. They are small round worlds which are not large enough to have cleared their orbit around the sun of smaller objects. Of these, series is closest to us. Although it is 13 times smaller than Earth, it contains about a third of the mass of the asteroid build and may have a crust which is about 25% water. For space travelers, water is essential to drink and to grow plants for food. With electricity from solar panels, water provides oxygen debris as well as hydrogen and oxygen rocket fuel. Further, the NASA Dawn spacecraft

1:02observed other chemicals on series which can be used to produce rocket fuel. Even though a series has only about 3% of the Earth's gravity, it still takes a significant amount of energy to lift materials from the surface of series and send them to where they can be used. In a recent study, Dr. Leon George and her co-authors investigate space, elevator technology, to remove materials from series and deliver them to orbital depots around the solar system. The concept of a space elevator, which uses a cable that extends from the Earth's surface to Geostationary orbit, along which a mechanical device delivers payloads to space has been around for a while. The tiny gravity of series, nano-fiber technology, and different water propulsion systems are utilized by Dr. George and her team to construct theoretically possible systems, which would extract raw materials from series and deliver them to low-worth orbit and other locations within the solar system. These researchers estimate

2:06such a transport system could reduce fuel cost by up to 60% compared to transport from the Earth's surface. For travelers in the night, this is Dr. Al Grower. Eskroy 2024-YR-4 will not hit the Earth in 2032, has about a 4% chance of hitting the moon, and most likely will pass within 900 miles of the lunar surface. For comparison, 2024-YR-4 is about the same size as the object that produced the Tunguska effect, which knocked down trees over an 800-square-mile area in Siberia in 1908. In a recent article submitted to the double-AS journals, Dr. Paul Weger of the University of Western Ontario and his co-authors report that if 2024-YR-4 would hit the moon, it could release the energy of 6.5 megatons of TNT and produce a crater one kilometer in diameter. What happens after that depends on the location and the angle of

3:10impact on the lunar surface. According to our current understanding of 2024-YR-4's orbit, such a lunar impact would send about the mass of several small cargo ships into space with lunar escape velocity. About 10% of the particles in this debris plume would accrete to the vicinity of the Earth within a few days. This lunar ejecta would likely have diameters ranging from the diameter of a human here to perhaps that of a green pea. This clotted debris would produce the mother of all meter storms and significantly increase the likelihood that our satellites would be subject to more meteoroid impact possibilities than they would normally receive for several years. One might expect such a lunar impact once every 5,000 years or so and in the future, we might want our asteroid hunters to track objects which could impact the moon. Astronomers will be able to tighten up details and the probability of lunar impact of 2024-YR-4 when it comes

4:13within the range of our telescopes in 2028. For travelers in the night, this is Dr. Al Grower. Stay tuned. The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. Audio post production is by me, Richard Drum. Project management is by Aviva Yamani and hosting is donated by libson.com. This content is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, non-commercial 4.0 International License. Please share what you love but don't sell what's free. This show is made possible thanks to the generous donations of people like you. Please consider supporting our show

5:13on patreon.com forward slash CosmoQuestX and get access to bonus content. Without your passion and contribution, we won't be able to share the stories and inspire the worlds. We invite you to join our community of storytellers and share your voice with listeners worldwide. As we wrap up today's episode, we're looking forward to unraveling more stories from the universe. With every new discovery from ground-based and space-based observatories and each milestone and space exploration, we come closer to understanding the cosmos and our place within it. Until next time, let the stars guide your curiosity.