MARLO

A lot of things have really ramped up in the last week about flying cars. So, a little bit later on the show we’re really looking–

STEVE 

So we are really that close to the Jetsons?

MARLO 

We’re getting there. It’s actually amazing what’s going on right now. 

STEVE 

Actually, it was funny, during the break. Again, during the break, you were showing me some pictures of NASA. I’m like, wow, that’s really cool. There’s the moon and what’s the celestial body over there? I’m like, and I’m trying to – it’s not round. It’s like an asteroid. I was just, this tiny little speck off in the distance. I’m like, oh, wait a minute. Scratch the screen. What’d you have for breakfast this morning?

MARLO

A bagel.  

STEVE

Okay. I’m thinking it might have been the bagel 

MARLO 

With a little cream cheese next to it, right? 

STEVE

That would’ve been the milky way

MARLO 

Yes, we are now around the moon. Orion is there. This is, I love this. Last night they were interviewing people from NASA. One of the NASA directors said the team is giddy about how well Artemis One is performing. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the word giddy ever come out of anybody from NASA before. 

STEVE

It’s like watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory except grown-up. 

MARLO 

They said the imagery coming back from the dark side of the moon is stunning.

STEVE So were there Decepticons? 

MARLO

No Decepticons 

STEVE

Chinese?

MARLO

No Chinese. 

STEVE

Yet. 

MARLO 

Yet. So the closest they’ve been, maybe they’ve been 80 miles away from the lunar surface. So you never know.  So the next time it goes up, it will actually have astronauts, but they will also not land on the moon. And then later this decade we’ll be putting people back on the moon to start building a moon base. 

STEVE 

They were doing a story on what they were gonna deploy from the next moonshot.. And they started talking about base, how some of that technology was based off of some old technology because the old technology had worked so well. And I forget the name of the rover, but they brought up a rover that was supposed to do a 60 day mission on Mars and it’s still chugging along. 11 years later. It’s still fully functioning.  

MARLO 

Supposed to have a short lifespan as well.

STEVE 

So when you put up a solar powered anything, it really functions well. 

MARLO 

Yeah. You’re oh, I forget what they call it, the most efficient solar arrays we have on the planet right now probably operate at about 30%. So anyway, we’re getting way off the topic here again but Artemis is working like it should, Orion is now. Orion is actually the spacecraft that’s going around. So anyway things are going well with Artemis, so much so that NASA’s giddy, so let’s just hope it continues. 

STEVE 

Wait, so we’re talking flying cars because according to you, a lot of technology has taking place, which I’m excited about, but I still have that question about batteries. Boeing tried, it didn’t work but you’re getting batteries off the ground, 

MARLO 

But you’re talking about full size, full sized aircraft too, right? Yeah. And there’s actually, there are actually, 

STEVE 

But there’s still a manufacturers that have power to weight ratio-

MARLO 

Yeah. I can’t imagine any type of long-term flight outside of an ultra light, with a wingspan of hundreds and hundreds of feet that would actually be able to – there is actually a plane and ultra light that’s been developed that will fly indefinitely. 

STEVE

I think I saw that. The wings are just huge.They called it the Gossamer, I think. 

MARLO 

The Gossamer was a human powered.vehicle. Back in the, I can’t believe I even remember this- 

STEVE 

You’re scaring me now. 

MARLO

There was a British competition. 

STEVE

Oh yeah, that’s what it was. 

MARLO 

And it was, like, launched in the fifties or the sixties and they put like a million pounds or something on it for a prize.It took until 1988 before somebody even won it. 

STEVE

Did you get the interest that went along? 

MARLO

I’m not sure. But it took 20 or 30 years before because the contest was ongoing until somebody was able to do this course. And it was the gossamer that the gossamer two as a matter of fact. So there’s, at the Smithsonian now, there’s the Kittyhawk, there is the Apollo and there’s the gossamer. Believe it or not, those are the three aircraft that they show off. 

STEVE

Speaking of Kittyhawk, did you know the Wright brothers only flew together once? 

MARLO

Yes. , 

STEVE

That’s because their father forbid them in case there was an accident.

MARLO

No, I did not know that. 

STEVE

Yeah. Interesting. They did that for their father, but they only flew together once. 

MARLO 

This is such a great show. I learned all these things. 

STEVE 

We just know way too much stupid crap. 

MARLO 

We do, too.  We’ll be the best trivia partners. I’m telling you right now. . 

MARLO

Alright so before we get into flying cars you brought up something that I had learned over the week here since we last talked. So electric cars. Now I’m not for or against them, I just think they’re another form of transportation. 

STEVE 

It’s an option.

MARLO 

It’s an option.

STEVE 

I don’t think it’s the ultimate option. It’s a stepping stone. I think electric vehicles are a stepping stone right now 

MARLO

…to wherever we’re going —

STEVE

I wish we would’ve gone further down the road of hybrid because of that. Something beneficial. 

MARLO

I find that interesting that you’ve said that.

STEVE 

Toyota is about the only company that really is like, “nope, we’re still doing the hybrids.” 

MARLO 

The engine in your car is basically a generator producing enough electricity for your car to run. 

STEVE 

That’s why railroads and look at all the weight that they transport.. 

MARLO 

That’s why they’re electro motives. So there was a, of course, a study but somebody has investigated. Do you know who John Stale is?

STEVE 

Yeah. And he did this investigative report on Nightline way back in the day that he was on. 

MARLO 

He does his own thing now. I think because of the back politics of the world nowadays, he doesn’t get a lot of airtime anymore. Cause I think he is a little more right-Leaning than most people like but with that said I always have liked John because I thought he was always 

He’s a good journalist and. If you didn’t know his political leaning, you wouldn’t know. He to me, he’s like the modern day Walter Cronkite.

STEVE 

You didn’t know, did the homework, gets the fact 

MARLO

That’s correct. 

STEVE

He and didn’t care about what side it hurt. 

MARLO 

Yeah. It wasn’t about a political agenda, but, so anyway did this investigative thing on electric cars and he, through his whatever, came up with a, that the first of all, the, you have to get to 60,000 miles on an electric vehicle before you even start to get close to the carbon footprint that a traditional gas powered vehicle gets to, and you actually start to see that a little bit of savings at a hundred thousand miles. So when your vehicle gets to a hundred thousand miles from that point forward, you will probably be about 20 to 30% less carbon footprint than what a traditional gas vehicle would be.

STEVE 

Two questions for that. 

MARLO 

All right. 

STEVE 

One, how many charges was that to get to a hundred thousand miles and which set of batteries are you currently on? 

MARLO 

So they didn’t get into that so much. They were just generalizing all of this right. What’s interesting, so 500 tons of material has to be moved to mine enough and I, and they’ll line up, I’ll have ’em line up on, on who’s on this side, who’s on that side. And their goal is to try to convince others. And what happens a lot of times is that when I’m in rural settings, like in Tioga, I just do this in Tioga recently.

MARLO 

And the car side usually wins out, but in urban settings, they all come back and say I can order a car anytime I want to. With Lyft oran Uber. So I’m taking the smartphone side. 

STEVE 

In ten years from now when things trickle down into rural North Dakota, then probably, what’s that answer?

MARLO 

Yeah, it probably will be the smartphone would be my guess, but yeah. 

STEVE

But can that autonomous vehicle. Avoid me getting stuck in a ditch in my four-wheel drive. 

MARLO 

Probably not. And the fun that it takes to get out of it.

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