I couldn’t agree more - great casting - perfect acting, exceptional art direction and spectacular directing, with amazing attention to detail in post production and special effects, makes this series the best ‘alternate reality’ show since The Man In The High Castle, in my humble opinion 👌
Considering that two years ellapsed and Bill had no idea about the sail, that means they created that solar sail in 2 years, implemented it into Sojourner that was an already completed design, did the tests... All that in secret without anybody leaking. I know their space programs are eons ahead of ours, but the logistic seems Impossible. Great scene though.
See they don't muck around with decades of testing in this universe. They think of a solar sail and they stick on a mission to mars. Solar sail is a relatively simple technology.
@@ScienceMan314 Whilst Margo was giving information to the Soviets she wanted the United States to win the race to Mars, to that end she had given the design for the NASA Fission engine to the Soviets but with incorrect performance specifications. The information given was enough for the Soviets to safely operate Mars-94 but be at a performance disadvantage to Sojourner 1 with its perfected engine and Solar sail. The information she had given was enough to keep her lover alive so there was no need to reveal the secret Solar Sail. She was effectively playing both sides with the aim of getting her lover out of the Soviet Union some how whilst also ensuring the United States won the Mars race. It was a dangerous game that she almost got away with if not for the suspicions of her prodigy. The failure of the Mars-94 engine gave her the leverage to get her lover out but the cruel irony is she was found out just as he was got out of the Soviet Union forcing her to be smuggled out to Russia during the chaos of the bomb attack. My gut feeling is they are going to play out the collapse of the Soviet Union albeit delayed a decade or so with Margo in the strange position of being a traitor, she still has a part to play albeit I am not sure how.
It possible that Bill knew about the solar sails but they were still in early testing when he left. He did get suspicious when they started playing sailing songs.
For everyone commenting on how they can't believe the designs for the solar sail were not leaked, remember that this timeline doesn't have much of an internet.
Also, that's clearly an iPod at 6:14. Isn't this supposed to be '94? Does this mean Jobs returned to Apple sooner than in our timeline? The iPod came out in October 2001, a month after that event that everyone keeps reminding that J. guy about.
Yep, this whole awesome sequence showing the competitors setting off to a beautiful piece of music... And the real winner is already most of the way there by now.
Something I found funny is how they call their crashed Soyuz capsule a “base” which is the equivalent of me labeling my stranded KSP rocket a Space station to feel better about myself
@@MrPineeeapppless No he was literally suggesting flying by a comet to use it as a gravity assist to increase velocity. The character was spiraling, and was just throwing s*** at the wall hoping some of it would stick.
The japanese managed to keep the bloody yamato secret, so I'd assume hiding a project of that size would be relatively simple. Of course, the fact that NASA is developing something big can't be hidden based on the activity of the R&D site, but it probably is possible to hide exactly what they are doing.
@@ShroomKeppie Yeah that stood out to me, the sail would need to be much bigger for a noticeable effect NASA in the story could have made this plan even better by using pushing lasers from the moon seeing as they are able to move large amounts of mass including the materials for a nuclear reactor, but if it works it works
Arthur C. Clark wrote a short story that appeared in Boys Life magazine. It was about a race of craft propelled by the solar wind. "Sunjammer" I must've been in 3d grade. 1964 ?
@@touko_nanami how so? Not to say you're wrong, just personally I heard the song and immediately went out of my way to figure out who wrote it - I thought it was perfect.
An acquaintance worked on the ealy German project to send a solar sail experiment into space, so it was fascinating to see this in action. Only thing the show got wrong is how you'd unfurl the carbon masts, on the CG model the pipe just extends.
Actually this is because in 1979 NASA first discovered Extendo-Carbon, a hyperdense material that could fold it on itself which would later be used by the CIA to create the ultimate Inspector (joke) (not even a funny one)
I'm no physicist but how would a solar sail actually help in a race to mars? They would need to be off course to start and then continually correct the course with the thrust from the sail. If they were on course from the start using a sail would change their trajectory away from mars, and seeing how the burn will always be away from the sun, wouldn't the only thing they could achieve be making the trajectory to mars longer?
@@Iskelderon But how would it be an advantage? I'm talking about the orbital mechanics side of it. As I understand it they were already on course for mars, and any changes to that should mean they will go off course, so by opening the sail they should be thrown off course.
@@charles_dingus It was simplified for the sake of TV convenience, but you could use it to your advantages if the path is right, since Mars is further out in the solar system and therefore the solar wind would be "blowing" in that direction. You'd ideally pick a timing where when you leave Earth, Mars is mowing in your direction (meaning, the Earth is ahead of Mars on the rotation around the sun). Not sure if that's a year on the show where that would be going on. In this situation, you'd more fly out from the sun and let Mars come to you.
Man I have been trying to find that jolly roger scene for forever. Glad you posted this clip always so funny seeing Baldwin's face when he realized something was wrong when he heard that song.
That was the funniest part. Seeing him laugh at first with everyone else, and then actually listening to the song and realizing what the song implied. And then immediately getting the 'oh f*ck' face.
Great casting - perfect acting, exceptional art direction and spectacular directing, with a nod to the realities of the time and amazing attention to detail in post production and special effects, makes this series the best ‘alternate reality’ show since The Man In The High Castle, in my humble opinion 👌 Yes, I realize I didn’t use enough full stops - my admiration of this show got ahead of my punctuation 😆
Best alternative reality show since MITHC? I’d say it’s infinitely better than the man in the high castle. In ranking order or parallel earths online on it goes 3.the man in the high castle 2.our reality 1.for all mankind High castle is about a history worse than ours but FAM Is about a history better than ours.
Solar Sails Carbon Nanotube Supports would make that possible.. Its other drawback is the sail can get Holed causing a reduction in the Thrust or effect Change in Direction.. Like DS9 the sails will have to be shedable if they get damaged.
I adore for all mankind, every year I get nervous they won’t recapture the magic of what came before. With season 4 I felt that my worst fears had came true, I had no idea what the point of the season was. Ed on mars, Kelly looking for alien life, Margot looking for a decent cheeseburger. Aleda dealing with ptsd. Dev dealing with retirement New character running his black market. Etc etc etc Until dev showed up to Ed after ending the strike and revealed his grand plan. Then I was back fully onboard and felt guilty for having such lack of trust. “Ed, do you wanna help me (spoilers) this (spoiler)” And Ed smiles Genius.
Not really It's 100% a thing that would've likely happen, had this actually been our reality. As much as I hate to say it, there are absolutely countries out there that would sacrifice some of their best, if it meant being the first. You *could* say that this somewhat happened with the prior (failed) Bell X-1 flights (before Yeager's), though that was also because we didn't fully understand the sound barrier yet.
Some people have already called out the questionable logic in hiding such a feature, but I'm more curious about it's trade offs. If you can afford the complexities and weight to attach a giant fold out solar sail, you can also just simply add more fuel in it's place. I don't know how much propulsion a solar sail like that can actually provide over a trip to mars, obviously I'm a not a rocket scientist, but I think it's fair to guess that it couldn't actually be enough to justify the extra mass. It's a fun concept to play with in a story like this though!
9:12 technician: …anyway as I was saying. It’s extremely dangerous and it’s unlikely to succeed. If you wish to endanger the crews lives for ego then I’d like it put upon the record you personally ordered this. The consequences are yours to face. Alone.
One thing that’s unclear and is never shown, does sojourner return to earth or land back at Jamestown ? It seems it wouldn’t have the fuel to capture and land in complete vacuum after launching from mars ?
This girl.. she won my heart, mind and.. nuts... the moment she said " you can lead follow or f**k right off.." i wish she was my wife. Another universe maby.. oh I am probably happy there because.. Not so much here.
How about fusing photons with mass atoms through a fusion reactor and boost in electrostatic state around the craft like a Donut? Coffee on Mars in 2 hours and back for dinner on Earth...
A timeline where instead of 2020 today , we are at 1990s level progress? Or even 80s where millionaires meant working hard , computer engineers and not RU-vid starts today . I’m starting to be 40, rather be today when I can still be and feel more intelligent than young ones , I would feel dumb if we still had progress
@@Shadowkey392 If you don't care that it'd take 10,000 years to get where your going, then you'd b right. Solar sails for a vehicle that heavy would be miles on a side (estimated). If it's a laser powered sail, it could be smaller.
@@robertbradbury7921 Who cares? What even is 'Woke' in this context? Why be so sensitive about being more technically correct? IMO, technically correct is the best kind of correct. Unbunch your tighty whites and go touch some grass rather than trying to be some kind of arbiter of words or thought police on the internet, because down that road, lies madness.
The ship has already accelerated to maximum speed using its thrusters. The sails aren't the main means of propulsion, they're just an addition that will give the ship a constant source of acceleration without consuming fuel.
Well, it is about 230 ft long. There'd be plenty of living space even if only the first 40 ft was dedicated to living area and supplies. Plus, I believe the journey took only 5 months.
This is why I can't hear anything during the space shots. This show is so unscientific. Everyone knows there is no air in space, which means there is nothing to get in the way between you and the sound, that's why space is so loud. (That was sarcasm BTW.)
Simple, they furl the sails back. In fact, I think that actually happens in the show too, Mars-94 suffers from some sort of breakdown and Sojourner 1 stays back to pick up the cosmonauts, giving up their new lead on Helios.
Ok, so a photon loses energy when it is reflected. What happens if we trapped a photon in between two mirrors. What happens to the photon after it loses all energy?
The way it works is some of the photons get absorbed completely while others get reflected, if you trap a photon in a reflecting box it would absorb the photon as it continues to hit the mirrors
Solar sails are a real concept and are being demonstrated in orbit with probes right now, in 10-20 years with the right funding we could make something like this
No. Since the photons will always be radiating away from the Sun, it will always have an outward thrust, e.g. not towards Earth, and towards Jupiter, Saturn, etc.
A race is a bad idea. Look at the race to the south pool. The Norwegians won.but sir hilliary scote stayed behind dieing in that ant artic weather station. He had to be first at something even if it killed him. Raceing to the stars might be to ego motated. Let be realistic the fat slow turtle wins the endurance race. And survival.
Pioneers die. It kinda goes with the territory. Dev even mentions that in the original Jamestown colony (first in the now-United States), 80% died in the first 3 years. We take these things for granted now, since everywhere has been explored, pretty much, and we live cushy lives now that have been paid for in actual blood by millions who came before us. Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person.
Accelerating with a solar sail in 1 direction is cool, but once it reaches maximum acceleration how do you counter the speed in the opposite direction to slow it down?
To slow down a spacecraft propelled by a solar sail after reaching maximum acceleration in one direction, you need to reverse the orientation of the sail.
I still don't get it how phoenix was first if sojouner 1 had a 384,400 km advantage because it took of from the moon... (I haven't watched the series so I don't know if they say why in there) If it was taking of from the moon, how was phoenix, which was from the earth, somehow first?
Phoenix has better engines than Sojourner and Mars-94, the specific advantage of the methane engines were they worked better in a vacuum and were faster than Sojouner (and Mars-94) in said vacuum.
@@unusualusername8847 Oh, idk. Maybe compared to another chemical fuel? Because, like I said, nuclear rockets have a much higher specific impulse (In layman's terms, efficiency.)
Ok sollar sails dont provide that much acceleration for an object with the mass of a space shuttle. There provide an extremly small build up of force over and extremely long period of time. It wouldn't give them the immediate speed boost they needed to overtake a larger craft, with more mass, travelling faster, with a head start.
The benefit of radiation-pressure isn't how many N/m^2 it provides but that it does that continously. At Mars you get roughly 3.93 pico-Newtons per square meter ... but you get that for however long you like (though varying with angle and distance from sun, as well as if you're absorbing or reflecting)
Sojourner make no sense. Unless it is launch from Earth, it is needlessly "aerodynamic". In vacuum there is no need to retract landing gears or landing thruster, just added more weight and failure points. Could have use the extra weight saved to make the sail bigger. An orbital high power laser from earth/Luna orbfired into the sail while it is still on "line of sight" would be much more efficient then passive solar sail.
This is NASA we're talking about, Sojourner was a reused concept for Mars, same thing they are doing with the Artemis program in our timeline, just NASA being NASA.
