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  • This episode is sponsored by The Ridge.

  • Go to ridge.com/space and use promo codeSCISHOWto get 10% off your next order.

  • [♪ INTRO]

  • As much as space inspires us to imagine and explore,

  • it doesn't exactly welcome that exploration.

  • You've got deadly radiation, extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and those are just the start.

  • Some of the most tempting destinations in our solar system

  • are home to the most hostile environments you can imagine.

  • But Earth also has its fair share of hostile places.

  • And we can use them to prepare space probes and even astronauts

  • for some of the most unwelcoming places in our solar system.

  • And that includes our nearest neighbor, the Moon.

  • Even though it's the one other world humans have walked on,

  • the idea of something like a lunar colony is still a major challenge.

  • Any long-term explorers would need protection from radiation and the constant shower of micrometeorites,

  • because unlike on Earth, there's no atmosphere to burn them up.

  • But the Moon itself might have the perfect hideaway.

  • Back in 2012, NASA's GRAIL spacecraft created a high-resolution map of the moon's gravity,

  • which reflected differences in density under the surface.

  • The map revealed huge underground voids on the near side of the moon.

  • They seemed to be in shape of tunnels, some of them dozens of kilometers long and hundreds of meters wide.

  • Astronomers think these voids are massive lava tubes.

  • Lava tubes can form when cool air solidifies the outer layer of a lava flow.

  • When the molten rock inside drains away, it forms a natural tunnel.

  • And these giant lunar lava tubes could be the perfect refuge for humans.

  • Not only could they house a whole city, they could provide shelter from radiation, micrometeorites,

  • and the Moon's extreme temperatures.

  • So, scientists like those at JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency,

  • are considering building our first lunar cities inside lava tubes.

  • It's a pretty dramatic idea, but fortunately, we can do a practice run.

  • Here at home, we also have lava tubes in volcanically active places

  • like Hawai'i, Iceland, and the Canary Islands.

  • The tubes are smaller because Earth's stronger gravity collapses any that get too big,

  • but they still make a pretty great laboratory.

  • In Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, lava tubes stretch more than 8 kilometers in length.

  • They go from openings in the surface to more than 50 meters below sea level.

  • And inside, the European Space Agency has been training future astronauts and mission specialists since 2016.

  • The trainees work alongside robots inside these volcanic caverns,

  • and practice using pioneering technology to do things like map the cave systems

  • and look for signs of water and life.

  • These are techniques that will keep them alive and help them scope out the alien environments

  • they might one day encounter on the Moon.

  • As barren as it is, the volcanic landscape of Lanzarote is charming

  • compared to some of the more hostile environments in the solar system, like Mars.

  • Even though it's our most-visited planet,

  • we still struggle to answer the one basic question that keeps drawing us back:

  • Has it ever had life?

  • Mars's surface is unbelievably dry and cold,

  • and its thin atmosphere means that its soil can't catch a break from radiation.

  • So if it has life at all, it's probably microscopic and buried beneath the surface for protection.

  • And NASA is developing a rover that they hope will be able to detect life like this.

  • And luckily we have just the place on Earth to test it out.

  • The Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest places on Earth.

  • Some areas get just 1 to 3 millimeters of rain a year.

  • Between this and the chemical makeup of its soil,

  • it's about as close to a Martian environment as you can get on our muggy planet.

  • The microscopic Atacaman life is forced to live underground,

  • where the last drops of water might persist.

  • Now, scientists are using a rover to look for these buried microbes, just like we would on Mars.

  • The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies project, or ARADS,

  • has designed a rover that can drill down as much as 2 meters, through soil, salt, and rock,

  • and return samples to its onboard lab.

  • NASA hopes to be able to detect signs of life from these samples,

  • and this test run will tell us if a rover like this could pull off the same stunt on Mars.

  • Much deeper in the solar system, scientists are eyeing Jupiter's icy moon Europa

  • as another target for robotic explorers.

  • Astronomers believe the moon has a liquid ocean, and, as far as we can tell,

  • liquid water is the number-one requirement for life.

  • The thing is, that water and any life it contains are buried beneath a 20 kilometer-thick crust of ice.

  • Which is kind of inconvenient, but maybe not impossible.

  • Right now, scientists are training robots using our own ice-covered ocean, the Antarctic.

  • A team at Georgia Tech has developed a long-range, underwater rover called Icefin.

  • It's about 3.5 meters long but just 23 centimetres wide,

  • which lets it slide into narrow boreholes that the scientists drilled in the ice.

  • This robotic explorer can then dive beneath the Antarctic ice shelf and navigate on its own,

  • all the while surviving freezing temperatures, crushing pressure, and unpredictable currents.

  • But it can do much more than just survive.

  • Instruments onboard Icefin can take high-resolution measurements of the environment.

  • And that's exactly what we'll need any Europan explorer to do,

  • if we want to get a picture of this alien ocean and figure out if it's habitable, or even inhabited.

  • Of course it'll take more research before we're ready to launch an underwater drone

  • to an icy moon more than 600 million kilometers from home.

  • So Icefin itself won't make it to Europa.

  • But its great-grandchild might.

  • In the meantime, Icefin's measurements are helping us

  • understand and document the melting of Antarctic glaciers.

  • It turns out that in reaching for space,

  • we're also learning about some of the most amazing places on Earth.

  • And preparing for hostile worlds gives us even more reason to appreciate the one world in this solar system

  • that actually does welcome us.

  • If you want to make it simpler to get around the world with all the things you need,

  • The Ridge offers you lots of ways to streamline your life.

  • The father-and-son team behind The Ridge launched their first product, the Ridge Wallet, in 2013.

  • It's sleeker than a traditional wallet, with just two metal plates bound by an elastic band.

  • Since then, The Ridge has also released backpacks, phone cases, and other products

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  • You can get 10% off today, and free worldwide shipping and returns, by going to ridge.com/space.

  • That's ridge.com/space and use the codeSCISHOWat checkout.

  • You can find the link in the description below!

  • [♪ OUTRO]

This episode is sponsored by The Ridge.

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B1 中級

地球上的其他世界。準備從家中進入空間 (Other Worlds on Earth: Preparing for Space from Home)

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    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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