Kind: captions
Language: en
and now for some final thoughts on the
search for
water water of course is not just a
refreshing beverage it's got some other
useful properties too you remember that
its chemical symbol is H2O that's one
oxygen bound with two hydrogen atoms the
water molecule is remarkably stable but
with a large investment of energy you
can separate the atoms from each other
now suppose you were an astronaut
exploring the Sur surface of another
planet that you knew in advance had lots
of water that'd be good because apart
from drinking the stuff once you split
the molecule you now have oxygen to
breathe not only that if you bring the
oxygen back together with the hydrogen
making water once again then large
amounts of energy will spew forth equal
to the energy it took to break the
molecule apart in the first place it's
this reaction that powers the main
engines of the Space Shuttle so pick a
cosmic object to visit that has water
and you only need to bring enough water
oxygen and rocket fuel for the trip
there that's a huge savings in the
weight of your spacecraft and in the
cost of the mission NASA calls this
insitu resource
utilization but I'd rather call it the
filling station model of space
exploration allowing Cosmic places to no
longer be destinations but Stepping
Stones to the
stars and that is the cosmic
perspective e