All language subtitles for BBC.The.Sky.at.Night.2024.2075.Our.Place.in.Space.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

Lift off.

Last century, humanity dared
to dream about exploring space.

We choose to go to the moon.

APPLAUSE

And over the next 50 years,
we might dare to go further.

Where will we be in space in 2075?

Space can be explored and mastered.

I want to see space continue

to be the way that John F Kennedy

hoped it would be.

This new ocean will be
a sea of peace.

I hope we do explore other worlds,

but I hope that's not prioritised

over conserving what's here
at home already.

I hope that in 50 years from now,
we have established

a permanent presence
on the moon...

The Eagle has landed.

..and had the first humans
landing on Mars.

I hope that international norms
are established for the safe

and sustainable development of space
for future generations.

We set sail on this new sea,

because there is new knowledge
to be gained.

I want to see all the diversity

we have here on Earth

represented in space.

I hope that we'll have worked
out a cheap way to get

to the outer solar system.

Now look into space, to the moon
and to the planets beyond.

I hope we know if there's life
somewhere in our solar system.

I hope our expansion into space will
give us a new perspective on Earth.

Whether it will become a force
for good or ill depends on man.

And what about you?
Where do you hope we'll be in 2075?

Welcome. Welcome.

Welcome to The Sky At Night.

This autumn, the Royal Society,

the world's oldest scientific
academy,

is publishing
a new ground-breaking report

called Space: 2075.

We've been given exclusive access
to find out all about it.

The report transports us
into the future,

painting a mind-boggling
picture of the year 2075.

Space elevators and reusable
rockets taking us into orbit,

giant space-based solar panels
beaming energy down to Earth,

and a permanent human presence
on the lunar surface.

The development of new technology

and the growth of
the commercial space sector

could make these
extraordinary ideas a reality.

This rapid increase in space
technologies has been compared

to the Industrial Revolution,

which changed our lives from
rural farming communities

to urban mechanised ones.

That shift came with huge
social and political reforms,

and we may need similar
transformative changes

over the next 50 years,

as we become a more
space-faring civilisation.

The Royal Society is calling
upon decision-makers

to anticipate this dramatic change.

If humanity is to become
interplanetary,

then we need to work together

and find out how we make it
for the benefit of everyone.

Thankfully, there are already people
around the world

who are working to tackle
the big questions and challenges

of our future in space.

So, while I'm at he Royal Society,

Chris has headed to Cologne

to learn about a new
European Space Agency project.

CHRIS: This is
the European Astronaut Centre,

where astronauts
from around the world

undergo extensive training

to prepare them for the trials
and tribulations of space travel.

To be selected to train
as an astronaut,

you have to meet
a set of strict requirements

about your physical
and mental health,

fitness and personality.

So how do we make space a place
that's welcoming to all people

and not just a select few?

I'm meeting John McFall,

one of the newest members
of ESA's astronaut reserve,

and the face of
their pioneering new study, "Fly!".

He's taking me on a tour
of the European Astronaut Centre's

state-of-the-art training
facilities.

Well, this looks impressive.

So, Chris, yeah,
this is the control room

for the Neutral Buoyancy Facility
at the European Astronaut Centre,

and this is where the controller
sits during the training that we do

in this awesome pool that we have.

A pool with a mock-up of...
Is that the Columbus module?

It is, yeah.
It's a life-size replica

of the European Space Agency's
module

that's attached to
the International Space Station.

We'll come back to that in a bit,

but how did you get here?

What brings you to the EAC?

Back in early 2021,

the European Space Agency
put out a call

for a new class of astronauts.

But uniquely within that
vacancy notice,

they were also recruiting
for an astronaut

with a physical disability

to do a very bold study,

to look at would it be feasible
to get an astronaut

with a physical disability to fly
on a long-duration mission

to the International Space Station?

John is already a medal-winning
Paralympian,

an orthopaedic surgeon,

and he can now add astronaut
to that impressive list.

John McFall.

But going to space
wasn't necessarily on his radar

as a young man.

I've always had a bit of
an adventurous spirit,

and as a kid
always wanted to join the army.

And then in 2000, I was travelling
around the world

and unfortunately
had a motorcycle accident

when in Thailand,

and ended up resulting in
an amputation of my right leg.

And I couldn't fulfil my ambition
of joining the army.

There were things about this
opportunity

to do this feasibility study
and potentially fly to space

that ticked a lot of the boxes
that I had wanted to tick

as my 16, 17-year-old self wanting
to join the army

but couldn't
because of my physical disability.

The Fly! study aimed to assess
the unique challenges involved

in getting John to
the International Space Station -

from launch, to orbit, to landing.

Some of the exciting things
that I've done have obviously...

Everybody knows about
the Vomit Comet

or the parabolic flight.

So we looked at this in the context
of would I be able to do CPR,

or cardiopulmonary resuscitation,
in an emergency in microgravity?

And so we demonstrated that that was
possible on a parabolic flight.

While being flown like this?
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

John and his team used a combination
of centrifuges,

parabolic flights
and low gravity treadmills

to recreate weightlessness

and test how John
and his body responded.

And this was just one small part
of an extensive study.

Hello, John. Hello.

Welcome back to Earth.

Thank you very much.
Yeah, well done.

And how's it gone?

Very interestingly, to date,

we have found that there are
no technical show stoppers

to flying someone with
a physical disability like mine

to the International Space Station
for a long-duration mission.

So this is news, right?
Yeah.

This is a big deal, because it could
have been that you came in

and two months in discovered that
there's a vital bit of training

that you couldn't do. Exactly.

So it's really exciting to see
what happens

in the next six to 12 months,
and where we take it from here.

But there's one part of
astronaut training

that John hasn't tackled yet.

The initial Fly! feasibility study
didn't consider spacewalking,

so what we call EVA,
extravehicular activity.

And lots of astronauts go to
the space station

and never spacewalk, right?
Exactly, yeah.

That's not weird. You know,
so it got to the point, well,

could we consider EVA?

And so a legacy of the study,
we're hoping, could be looking

into the potential of EVA.

While spacewalks are not
yet part of the Fly! study,

today, John and his team
are starting to think

about the impact that training
in the European Astronaut Centre's

Neutral Buoyancy Facility
might have on his body.

The facility makes use of buoyancy,

essentially floating, to recreate
the feeling of weightlessness

for long periods of time.

So the astronauts can practise
spacewalks underwater.

So, how was that? Yeah, it was good,
thanks, Chris.

Prosthesis was comfortable
in the water. Wet suit fine.

Get the fins on the feet OK, so...
Job done.

Let me take you this way and show
you what else we have. Sure.

The European Astronaut Centre
is also home to one-to-one replicas

of the modules on
the International Space Station.

And today, I'm excited to get
inside their replica

of ESA's Columbus laboratory.

So, where are we in the station?
So, we're here.

We're right at the front
of the International Space Station.

So this is Node 2.

And the space station is hurtling
that way at, well, 27,500km an hour.

I like the speed limit sign.

Shall we go through?
For sure, yeah.

I'm imagining I'm floating
at this point. Yeah, yeah.

The Columbus module houses some
of the most important experiments

for understanding how humans
can live and work in space.

You know, when you look at
the complexity of this space,

you can see why those questions
in your study about manoeuvring

and stabilising yourself
really come into play.

There's not a lot of space
to play with in here.

There isn't,
and there is a lot more equipment

that encroaches onto the free space.

Well, I'm pleased
to have finally made it

into the European Columbus module,

so thanks for the tour.
Shall we go back down to Earth?

Absolutely.

John looks right at home
in the Columbus module,

and it's got me thinking
about what comes next for him

and the Fly! study.

As we come towards
the end of this study,

do you think one day you'll be
floating around the real ISS?

I'd love to go to space,

and I do hope I get the opportunity
to fly one day.

But what I've realised by doing
this is that this is not about me.

This is about the future
of space exploration.

Maybe we'll look back in 300 years
from now

and say the first time someone
tried to look at getting someone

with a physical disability
to be an astronaut was here,

you know, in the 2020s.

And really, if we are going
to be an interplanetary species,

we have to start somewhere.

I've got one final question,
which is that I'm sure that somehow,

sometime soon, you're going to find
yourself on a rocket heading to

space. Will you come and tell us
about it when you've been?

Absolutely. I'd love to.
Good. Then that's a deal.

Thank you very much. Pleasure.

Talking to John about his work
has been truly inspirational.

Just the fact that major space
agencies like ESA

are thinking about accessibility
sends a powerful signal.

Maybe we really will have a future
in which anyone can go to space.

Tower clear.

The prospect of getting more people
to space is exciting.

There's a lot more to consider
if we want to keep them there

for long periods of time.

MAGGIE: Nasa's Artemis mission
is planning to build

a space station in orbit
around the moon

and a permanent base on the moon's
surface by around 2030.

And with the recent discoveries
of caves on the moon

that could house a lunar base

and liquid water reservoirs
on Mars,

humans living on other bodies
in our solar system by 2075

feels like a very real possibility.

But the conditions these people
will be living in

will be very different to anything
we're used to here on Earth,

so keeping them healthy
will not be simple.

I'm meeting doctor and space
medicine expert Kevin Fong

to find out more.

Well, we're here
at the Royal Society,

and they have a sort
of fantastic background

in sort of medical research.

But can you tell me more about
space medicine today?

We've got people
on the International Space Station,

people sort of flying
around in rockets.

What support do they need?

There's lots of minor things
they need to deal with.

So, sickness - a lot of them
feel sick.

Sleep - they have a lot of
sleep medications up there.

They have a few bits for serious
emergencies,

like fires
and the emergency decompressions,

and all of that is packed
into a very small space.

And then the job of people like me
on the ground,

who work with
the space medicine teams,

is to design that kit
so that it's basically idiot-proof.

OK! So even under pressure
or whatever...

Even under pressure. Yes.

And you can talk them through it
on the phone

or over a video link.

And, for me, it was such a great
sort of thought experiment

of how do you take everything
you know about medicine,

take it apart... Yes!
..remove gravity,

and remove your access
to a hospital,

and then make sure it
still works in the worst situation?

So that's why I loved doing it.

Yes, yeah!
Deconstructing medicine.

Astronauts are guided through
medical procedures by doctors

like Kevin on the ground

and trained in how to treat their
crewmates' minor medical issues.

In the worst-case scenario,

ISS astronauts can come home
for medical care.

But they're only 250 miles
away from us.

People living on a lunar base
would be hundreds of thousands

of miles away from home.

And for Martian folk,
it would be hundreds of millions.

Mars, shortest time is about
six months to Mars,

can be as much as nine,
and the same on the way back.

And then you're on the surface
for either 30 days or a year or two.

Yes. There's no in-between, is there?
So it's a peak, for the peak return.

Yeah, the buses are very infrequent.
Yes!

And so then you've got a whole
different set of issues,

because you're out there,

microgravity is chiselling
away at your physiology,

your biology, and radiation is one
of the big, big problems.

Because, as you know,
we're outside the magnetosphere,

which gives us
such substantial protection

from the high-energy particles.

And then goodness knows
what you'd do

if something went wrong medically,

because your closest hospital
might be as much as

three and a half years away.
You need a lot of self-reliance.

You're restricted by weight
and volume.

There's not much space
for the medical kit,

so one of the sort of evolving
possibilities

is that you might be able to
3D print your equipment,

which means that if you've just got
a bag of some sort of substrate

and a 3D printer, and you can say
you need this bit of kit. Scalpel!

SHE IMITATES PRINTER
Exactly, well, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, dental drill
and all the rest of it.

Protecting our bodies
from the trials and tribulations

of space in the short-term
is one thing,

but we're starting to think
about staying in space for longer,

maybe even settling there,

and that brings whole new questions
about health.

Physiology of people
born in space,

what impact will that have on them?

They have done
some very interesting experiments

where they've taken fish eggs up

and put them through
an entire cycle of fertilisation

and then the birth of the fish,

and had the fish swim around
in weightlessness, in these tanks.

And, of course, the fish
don't develop with any sense of up,

down, left, right, because
there is no up, down. Yes, yes.

So they kind of swim
in very bizarre directions.

So if you are exposed to
this space environment,

your body says,
"Hey, this is what I've got.

"I don't need to do that.

"I don't need to have all
this muscle.

"I don't need to have all
this bone."

So people who are born in space
one day will look very different

and be different physiologically.

The shape of their bodies,
the way their bodies work

will be different from that
which we have on Earth.

A child which grows up in space
might learn to float

instead of crawl.

Their muscles would develop
differently,

and an ultra-distribution of fluids
in their body

would lead to a puffier face.

It's possible that they would be
so adapted to space

that they could never live
unaided on Earth.

Kevin, as always, it's been
fantastic talking to you.

Great talking to you, as well.

Well, look forward to seeing
you again soon.

See you later, Maggie. Take care.
Lovely to see you. Thank you.

Human settlements in space
are an incredible,

exciting goal for our future.

But we have to be able to get
out of Earth's orbit first.

GEORGE: There are already millions
of pieces

of space debris in orbit
around our planet,

made up mostly of defunct satellites
and pieces of rockets

that we've launched over the years.

As Earth's orbit gets more crowded,

the chance of a collision
between two pieces

of space debris increases.

A single collision could start
a chain reaction of collisions,

filling Earth's orbit with debris
and making it harder and harder

to launch a rocket into space.

Thankfully, companies
and space agencies around the world

are starting to come up with
clever solutions for dealing

with our crowded orbit.

I'm meeting Mekhi Dhesi
from Astroscale to learn more.

I know that you guys work
on space junk.

Yeah. And we hear this term
a lot right now. Why is it a problem?

If you measure all the pieces
of debris in orbit,

there is 130 million pieces
of space debris

up in orbit right now. Ooh!

And everything in low Earth orbit
is travelling super, super-fast.

Yeah. It travels 20 times faster
than a bullet,

so even the tiniest piece of debris
can cause a serious impact,

so it's potentially harmful
to astronauts up in space. Yeah.

Only last year,
a Russian satellite had a break-up.

They had to warn the astronauts
on the ISS to take shelter

and potentially then go
to their vehicles for a safe exit

of the ISS if it had collided
with it.

And this also impacts potentially
future space exploration,

because if there's so much junk
hurtling around,

a spacecraft carrying astronauts
up through orbit

might not be able
to get past safely.

So we need to find a way to tackle
the space debris

that's already up there,

but we also need to future-proof
satellites that are yet to launch

to ensure the sustainable
use of future space

for generations to come.

In 2021, Astroscale launched
their first spacecraft, ELSA-d,

a test of their new magnetic
docking system.

The aim was for a dummy piece
of space debris,

pre-equipped
with a magnetic disc,

to be captured
by the ELSA-d spacecraft.

And the proof
of concept worked.

Now, what's next? What's the future
of this project?

So, what's next
is the commercialisation of ELSA-d,

and we call this ELSA-M,

which stands for End-of-Life
Services by Astroscale-Multiple.

So this really
is the commercialisation

of the ELSA-d demonstration.

So, in 2026, we'll launch our
satellite ELSA-M up into orbit

and it will then remove
a failed satellite

that has already been pre-equipped
with a docking plate.

The aim is that ELSA-M will tow
space debris out of orbit

and release it in the upper stages
of Earth's atmosphere,

where the pressure and heat
will cause it to disintegrate.

ELSA-M will then return to pick up
another piece of debris.

Today, I'm lucky enough to be shown
around my very first clean room

where the ELSA-M spacecraft
is being built.

Here we go. I can't believe
I've been allowed in a clean room.

So I know this is where you guys
are actually building ELSA-M?

That's right, but a lot of what
we have in here at the moment

is commercially sensitive,
as you can imagine. Yeah.

But there is something we can talk
about right here.

Yeah? One of the magnetic
docking plates

that we were talking about earlier.

Yes! So it has these legs here
that you can see,

and it attaches onto
the side of a spacecraft. Yeah.

ELSA-M is designed for use
on satellites

that have been equipped
with this magnetic docking system

in advance. But we know there is so
much debris already out there

with no magnets
for ELSA-M to dock to,

but Astroscale hope
their upcoming mission, Cosmic,

could solve this problem
using similar technology to ELSA-M

but replacing the magnetic
docking system with a robotic arm

that can grab on to debris.

However, both ELSA-M and Cosmic
have a limitation.

So, the ELSA-M
and the Cosmic missions,

they're designed for grabbing
onto debris that's about the size

of a washing machine. Right.

But there are also really,
really large pieces

of debris out there.

For example, sometimes upper stages
of rocket bodies

are then left in orbit,
and these can be about the size

and the weight of a London bus.

So there is a mission called
ADRAS-J,

which stands for Active Debris
Removal by Astroscale-Japan,

launched February 2024,

and it's going to inspect

one of these really large pieces
of debris,

an upper stage rocket body.

And so ADRAS-J has now reached
just 50 metres separation

and is managing to produce amazingly
high-resolution images.

And in the future, then, this will
inform a second-stage mission

where we can then go up
and also safely remove it.

That's incredible!
It's like you say -

50 metres in space terms is just
nothing.

They may as well just be
about to kiss!

That's, like, that's so close
together.

These images captured by ADRAS-J

of an old rocket part
hurtling through space

are sort of enchanting.

But they're also a reminder
of the impact

we've already had on space,

and how we need to change the way
we treat it in the future.

Thank you so much for allowing me
in my very first clean room.

Thank you so much for coming by.
No worries.

See you soon, hopefully.
Bye! Bye-bye!

More satellites in orbit doesn't
just mean more space debris.

It also changes
our night sky here on Earth.

It can be a lot of fun tracking
down a satellite

or spotting the International Space
Station flying overhead.

I find it truly magical seeing
the ISS,

a moving star with people
living on it,

but an increasing
number of objects in orbit

can also be a nuisance for amateur
astronomers down here on Earth.

Deep-sky imaging is currently
the worst affected,

and that's because the individual
exposures tend to be many seconds,

or perhaps even minutes in length.

But satellites can also affect
things like meteor photography,

where the trails mimic
the appearance of meteors.

If you're heading out to watch
the Draconid

or Orionid meteor
showers coming up in October,

you'll want to keep an eye
out for satellites.

You can see in these images
how similar they look,

but you can distinguish between them
in several ways -

by the satellite's lack of colour

and by their straight-line
appearance,

as meteor trails tend to have

a definite shape to them.

And if you're taking continuous
multi-second exposures,

a meteor trail will tend to appear
on one frame,

whereas a satellite trail

will tend to be visible

moving over several frames.

As we make technological advances
in space,

so amateur astrophotography
has also been evolving,

providing solutions
to help astrophotographers

remove satellite trails
from their images.

With standard telescopes,

removing satellite trails requires
you to take several different

exposures and then stack
them in a way that removes

the satellite trail.

You can see an example of
the process in these images

of the star cluster M53.

And now, with new smart telescope
technology like this,

a user can select a target
and set the telescope off.

The telescope will find the object,
take all the necessary exposures,

stack the images, and automatically
remove the satellite trails.

Smart telescope or not,

if you're looking for a good target
this month,

there's a small partial
lunar eclipse taking place

on the 18th of September,

and this is a special one

as it falls on 2024's harvest moon.

The best time to catch the eclipse

is around 03:00 to 04:15 BST,

when the moon will be moving

through the darkest part

of the Earth's shadow,

called the umbral shadow.

The darkest shading will appear

at the moon's north-east limb.

So, if you don't have a fancy
smart telescope yet, don't fret.

There's still plenty to see.

I love the fact that technology
is making astronomy more accessible,

but often the joy
is in the searching,

looking for these objects
in a sea of bright stars

and then finding them.

There's no finer feeling.

The prospect of our species
reaching further

into that beautiful night sky
is wondrous and inspiring.

But as we have seen tonight,
not without its challenges.

Back at the Royal Society,

Maggie is meeting
Professor Suzie Imber,

co-chair of the Space: 2075 report,
to discuss the society's findings

on how humanity should tackle
this next chapter

in space exploration.

MAGGIE: But my first question is
why are you doing this report now,

and why 50 years?

Well, I think now is a really good
time for this report to come out,

because we're experiencing this big
acceleration in the space industry,

not just space agencies
exploring space

but also a lot
of commercial companies too.

That's kind of a good time for us
to just pause and take stock

and think about where we'd like
the future of space to be.

And, in a way, that links back to
why we're doing 50 years.

It's much easier for us to look
forward and try to design,

from the outset,

laws and legislation that leads us
in the direction we want to go in,

rather than responding to incidents
as they happen

and trying to make up laws
and legislation as we go.

The space economy is expected
to be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035

and space agencies like Nasa and ESA
are relying more and more

on private companies for parts
of their missions.

Commercialisation, especially when
we talk about it in space,

it can be seen
as a double-edged sword,

and I think an example
would be space debris.

It seems some companies are putting
a lot up there,

and some companies
are trying to work out

how to get rid of space debris.

So, is there a way of doing it
effectively, of doing it well?

I think space debris
is a really good example, isn't it,

of thinking about commercialisation?

And, in a way, yes, there are some
companies sending lots of things

into space, but that's needed
for the business

that they're running and it's going
to be of benefit to humanity.

And so there's a plus side there,
but only if we have the regulation

in place to make sure that this is
done ethically and sustainably.

It's not just satellites
placed in space

that we need to carefully consider.

We also need to look at how we get
people into space in a way

that is safe and beneficial
to all of us.

So, I'm going to put it out there -
the next 50 years,

do you think we'll have people
on Mars?

Yeah, I do, actually. I do.

And I realise that people on Mars,
it's always 30 years away, right?

I think 30 years ago we said...
That rolling...

We said we'll have them there
in 30 years and we haven't.

For good reason, I think, actually.

Before you send people anywhere,

we must understand the environment
that we would be sending them into.

And so now we're finally reaching
the phase, I think,

where we've sent orbiters, now
we've sent landers and rovers

and really understanding
the environment.

So, given how far we've come
in the last 70 years,

in the next 50 years, we may well
have the first boots on Mars.

I'm hoping they're mine,
but we'll see!

THEY LAUGH
I'd vote for you, Maggie.

So, having been one
of the participators in generating

this report, what would you
like people to take away from it?

I think I'd really like people
to take away a sense of excitement

about what the future holds.

Because if you read the report,

there's so many amazing things

that we're talking about
that 20 years ago

would have been impossible.

And many of these concepts
come from science fiction.

They come from things that we will
have read as young people.

And now, in the next 50 years,
they're going to be a reality.

To find out more about
the Royal Society's report,

you can sign up for information
on their website.

You can also find great videos
on other mind-bending

future space stuff on BBC Ideas.

The boundaries of humanity's
ambitions in space seem to grow

wider year on year, from near the
surface of our little globe

to the moon, to Mars and way beyond.

But the people we've met in
today's episode

have given us a lot to think about

if we're to meet this future
in a way that benefits us all.

Whatever happens between now
and 2075,

you can keep up with space
on The Sky At Night. Goodnight.