Beam Powered Spaceships

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Genetics, Artificial Intelligence, Sci Fi, Post Scarcity, Spacecraft, Energy Abundance, Scifi, Cybernetics, Technological Future, Space Megastructures, Space Station, Starship, Technology, Space Industry, Future Of Humanity, Science, Astronomy, Civilizaiton, Human Civilizaiton, Futurism, Megastructures, Transhumanism, Interstellar Travel, Engineering, Physics, Space Colonization, Future, Long Term Future, Spaceship, Space, Space Infrastructure, Future Philosophy

4.9 • 781 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2019

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In order to get into space, we require either huge amounts of rocket fuel or dangerously powerful energy sources, making personal spacecraft a technology limited to science fiction. But by harnessing beamed power sources to run engines, we may be able to create a spaceplane cheap enough and safe enough that anyone could have one in the future. Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/Wol8EU6Rtbk Sign up with Skillshare for 2 months of Free classes: https://skl.sh/isaacarthur11 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur SFIA Merchandise available: https://www.signil.com/sfia/ Social Media: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Credits: Upward Bound: Beam Powered Spaceships Episode 192, Season 5 E27 Written by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Evan Schultheis Darius Said Keith Blockus Matthew Acker S Graham https://beyondnerva.wordpress.com S. Kopperud Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier Graphics by: Jeremy Jozwik https://www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_losdiajana Katie Byrne Ken York https://www.facebook.com/YDVisual/ Kris Holland (Mafic Studios) www.maficstudios.com Sam McNamara Sergio Botero https://www.artstation.com/sboterod?fref=gc Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Music Manager: Luca DeRosa - lucaderosa2@live.com Music: Sergey Cheremisinov, "Sirius" https://www.s-cheremisinov.com Stellardrone, "In Time" https://stellardrone.bandcamp.com Scott Buckley, "Titan" http://www.scottbuckley.com.au Kevin MacLeod, "Morning Snowflake" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZXFhRIx6b0dFX3xS8L1yQ Dan MacLeod, "Alpha Protocol" https://soundcloud.com/neptuneuk AJ Prasad, "Staring Through (Part II)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA8-7qwaEPU See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners, in this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,
0:05.0	we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.0	To hear it and every episode early and add free, plus hours of bonus content, check
0:15.0	out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.0	This episode is sponsored by Skillshare.
0:23.4	The rocket equation is an amazing thing.
0:26.5	It enabled us to launch into space and step foot on the moon.
0:30.8	But at the same time, it's the thing which most holds us back from easy space travel.
0:36.2	So let's avoid it using beaming technologies. We've discussed many alternative methods throughout this series on how to get into space,
1:08.5	but most of these have revolved around some extreme engineering,
1:12.2	like launch loops or orbital rings. They can get you into space cheap, but have big upfront
1:17.9	construction and maintenance costs. Last time in the series, we discussed spaceplanes,
1:24.0	ships that can fly from an airport straight to orbit and maybe beyond.
1:29.1	While that had many options, it was fundamentally limited by the rocket equation, and
1:34.2	we could only partially circumvent that by letting it get much of its propellant at lower
1:38.5	speeds from the air, but it could only do that in the atmosphere and it still needed
1:43.6	to burn huge amounts of fuel
1:45.3	to operate.
1:46.8	Today we'll be looking at how to get around that fuel issue by beaming energy to a ship,
1:52.5	but let's begin by a quick review of what the rocket equation is and why it constrains
1:57.7	us.
1:59.2	The basic form of any spaceship proportion using propellant, shooting matter out the back
	...

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