All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Machines.With.Dolph.Lundgren.S01E06.Worlds.Fastest.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

A lot of machines are fast,

but only a handful win the race

to become the fastest
in their class.

For them is not just
about the need for speed,

it's how they get things done.

Tonight, the first car to
conquer the speed of sound.

Can a car go
faster than Mach 1

and still survive intact?

And the sub so quick it
rewrites the rules of warfare.

They're creating
the perfect machine

for hit-and-run-type attacks.

I can catch you no matter
what speed you're moving at.

And a record-shattering boat
built by guy in his garage.

317.6 miles per hour,

that is blistering
for an automobile,

for something on the
water that's insane.

Plus the fastest machine ever.

What's it running from?

The Parker Solar Probe
is designed to reach speeds

of over 430,000 miles per hour.

At that speed, you could
go from New York to Tokyo

in under a minute.

I'm Dolph Lundgren.

Onscreen, I'm all
about the action,

but offscreen I have
degrees in engineering,

I even studied at MIT.

I learned that machines
and the people behind them

can transform the world.

Join me as I explore the gears,

grit and genius behind
"History's Greatest Machines."

In 1947, the American
pilot Chuck Yeager

became the first man to
break the sound barrier.

For decades only pilots and
jet-powered planes go that fast.

Then in the 1980s, a
new question emerges.

Can a person break the
sound barrier driving a car?

October, 1983, Nevada's
Black Rock Desert.

This dry, smooth lake
bed is eerily quiet,

it won't be full long.

The car is called the Thrust2.

It's trying to break
the land speed record

that has stood since 1970.

The ground speed record
of 622 miles per hour

has stood for over 12 years,

and many think it
can't be broken.

The driver is Richard Noble.

He's an aviator,
an entrepreneur,

but he's so much more than that.

He's a man obsessed with speed
and with breaking records.

Noble is more like
a pilot than a driver.

Inside there's actually
a Rolls Royce jet engine

that is designed to push a
British jet plane to Mach 2.

The obvious question
is,

is this too much
engine for a car?

With a deafening jolt,

Noble launches a jet car 400
miles per hour, 500, 600.

After a one mile run,

the new land speed record stands

at a whopping 633
miles per hour.

For Noble, the
success is fleeting.

Well, obviously we
have to go faster.

Noble decides he's gonna
build a car so fast

that it will break
the sound barrier.

Here's the thing, the
sound barrier is not a fixed

number, not a fixed number.

it depends on the density
and temperature of the air.

So, what this means is
that a car on the ground

has to move 90 to 100
miles per hour faster

than a jet flying
at 30,000 feet.

So, this car needs to move
at 767 miles per hour.

But can a car go
faster than sound Mach 1

and still survive intact?

At Mach 1 shock waves
slam into every surface.

It could throw the entire
vehicle into the air

and completely destroy it.

The machine Noble
in his team aimed to build

will be known as the
Thrust SuperSonic Car,

or ThrustSSC for short.

ThrustSSC is
designed not to drive,

but to fly low while
still touching the ground.

So, to generate
extra power,

the ThrustSSC adds
a second jet engine.

With these two jet
engines in line,

it's got the equivalent power
to a Boeing 747 on takeoff.

This vehicle can go from
zero to 700 miles per hour

in under 40 seconds.

That's insane.

Moving at hundreds
of miles per hour

would cause normal
rubber tires to overheat,

degrade and completely melt.

So, the ThrustSSC
actually uses custom aluminum

wheels that spin
at over 8,500 RPMs.

That kinda speed
creates another issue.

Once you hit Mach 1,
how are you gonna slow down?

Well, the driver

has to lift their foot
gently off the throttle

and let the car
begin to slow down.

When it hits about
700 miles an hour,

military grade parachutes
will then slow it down

to about 400 miles an hour.

Only when the driver
sees 200 miles per hour

on the speedometer can he
use the carbon fiber brakes

to come to a full stop.

Power and
braking, get it moving,

but keeping the car steady,

that's where the real
engineering genius comes in.

It has to be
symmetrical.

If the air flow isn't
equal on both sides,

that could catastrophically
spin the car out

at supersonic speeds.

Everything is built
to handle stress.

Heat resistant materials
are used around the engine,

and the cockpit has to be
sealed like a jet fighter

to withstand the shock waves
of breaking the sound barrier.

After multiple test
runs, they're ready.

Richard Noble's
older at this point,

so they turn to British
Fighter Pilot Andy Green

to take this run.

Everyone's on pins and needles.

50 years in a day

after Chuck Yeager
broke the sound barrier

for the first time
in an airplane,

every system is
tuned to perfection.

The engines roar to
life.

The ground is trembling,
acceleration is insane.

Zero to 600 miles an
hour in under 20 seconds,

this thing is flying.

Then the
moment Noble and his team

have worked toward.

For the first time in
history,

a land vehicle creates a sonic
boom at 763 miles per hour.

A Mach number
on that run was 1.007.

A car has done the
impossible, traveling at speeds

that only planes have
been able to do before.

There's the
world's fastest car,

then there's the
world's fastest car

you can actually
drive on the street.

Setting that record is
a different challenge.

It requires creating
a car you can buy

and drive right off the lot.

It's the late '90s
and European automakers

are the kings of the road.

They make the world's fastest
and best production supercars.

Some American car engineers

are tired of getting
left in the dust.

Jerod Shelby is an
engineer and an entrepreneur

with a lifelong
passion for speed.

By the way, he's
not related to Carroll Shelby,

the guy who created the Cobra.

He found SSC North
America to create something

beyond a supercar like a
McLaren or Lamborghini.

He wants to create a hypercar.

The hypercar is a car

that can hit speed
over 250 miles per hour

and purchase the
limits of engineering.

It's a status symbol,

and Shelby wants to build
the fastest one in the world.

Shelby's got the
passion.

He's been a car fanatic
since he was a kid,

ever since he raced
go-karts competitively

on the national circuit.

Then as he grew older,
he took that knowledge

and started tinkering with cars.

Shelby doesn't have
deep corporate pockets.

He finances his experiments
with his own money

and customer pre-orders.

What Shelby needs is
some super sexy milestone

to get good press.

He calls
his ambitious project

The SSC Tuatara.

The name Tuatara
comes from a New Zealand lizard

that has the fastest evolving
DNA of any living animal.

Shelby wants to take that same
idea of constant evolution

and apply it to his car.

He needs to design it

to break speed records
on public roads.

This isn't a traditional race
car, it's a production car

that feels like a race car.

The secret
to the Tuatara

and massive twin turbo engine

that can unleash
1,750 horsepower.

The best Ferrari out
there can only manage 514.

The SSC Tuatara isn't
just low, it's crazy low.

It's 16 feet long,

but it barely clears three to
four inches off the ground.

Carbon fiber from nose to tail.

The nose cuts the air,

the teardrop cockpit
keeps it tight.

Every curve, every crease
designed for one thing, speed.

The Tuatara can rock
it from zero to 60

in under 2.5 seconds.

But the real challenge
is maintaining stability

as you get past
250 miles an hour.

So, this car's got
something called active

aerodynamics, which means it
uses the front flaps

and the rear spoiler
to automatically adjust

to the speed and
road conditions.

The car uses specialty
Michelin tires

that are rated for
331 miles per hour,

not something you
would typically see

on a production car.

For the Tuatara's
record attempt,

they've gotta beat
277.87 miles per hour.

The team has to
coordinate

everything meticulousy.

between weather, wind speed,
and surface conditions.

Pretty much anything can
make or break a record run.

Shelby wants to prove
that Tuatara is so advanced

it can break the record

without the race car
driver at the wheel.

This is a promotion.

Shelby picks his target
consumer to drive it,

a dentist named Larry Caplin.

And get this, he's gonna
do this in his Tuatara

that he bought.

The first run hits
279 miles an hour,

which is 1.13 miles an hour
faster than the record,

but they have to
complete two runs

for it to be an official record.

Then the all
important second pass is up.

Every second
of the run is tracked

by multiple GPS systems
and video on the dash.

He's going 200, 250,
270.

They eventually hit
286 miles per hour,

hitting an average
speed of 282.9.

That's five whole miles per
hour above the previous record.

Shelby gives his
customers the opportunity

to say they own the fastest
production car in the world.

It'll run you
just under 2 million

for a fully loaded version.

Looks like Shelby's
gamble paid off.

In the 1970s and '80s,

commercial air travel booms
and the world shrinks.

Unfortunately, so does
everyone's patience

with long flights,

and the people who can
afford it demand a machine

that cuts flight times in half.

In 1985, the
media and the public

are captivated by Live Aid,
a major benefit concert

that's happening
simultaneously in two cities,

London and Philadelphia.

Most artists pick one venue,

but Phil Collins, he
decides he wants to do both.

He finishes a set at
London's Wembley Stadium

and less than four hours later,
he touches down in New York,

straight into a helicopter

to land at the venue
in Philadelphia.

Same day, two stages
across an ocean.

This isn't travel,
this is time bending.

How is this possible?

Rewind to November 29th, 1962,

the British and
French signed a treaty

to develop something
groundbreaking,

the world's first
supersonic passenger jet.

It's called the
Concorde.

French President Charles de
Gaulle uses the word in a speech

to refer to this project

in French means
treaty or agreement.

Remember, this
is the 1960s, there is no email,

there's no video conferencing.

So, the prospect of the
world's fastest commercial jet

is an absolute game changer.

It's easy to see
why a flight like this

might be appealing.

It takes a really long time,

seven to eight hours
off to go transatlantic.

Concorde promises to
cut that travel time in half.

So, essentially flying
over the Atlantic

in three and a half hours.

The major airlines
rush for their checkbooks

when they see the initial plans.

American Pan Am, TWA,

they've all signed non-binding
contracts for these planes

and it looks like
the entire industry

is about to go supersonic.

This is a big deal.

If they can pull this off,

it will show that
Britain and France

can compete with the two major
aeronautical superpowers,

that's the US and the USSR.

In December, 1967,

the first prototype
rolls out sleek, radical,

unlike any passenger
jet before it.

The designers go
with a smaller delta

wing to reduce drag, but reduced
drag also means reduce the lift.

So, as a result, the plane
needs a higher angle of attack

to gain low speed lift
to take to the air.

But with that pointy
nose in the air,

the pilots don't have
the visibility to

take off the plane.

The engineers come up
with

this pretty fantastic design of
a hydraulic drop nose,

so the pilots who are
sitting in front of the plane

don't have their
view obstructed.

But it's this drop nose

that ultimately makes the
Concorde look like the Concorde.

They engineer four Rolls
Royce turbo jet engines.

They inject fuel directly
into the exhaust.

This is called an afterburner.

They figure this will push
this passenger airliner

past Mach 2.

An average jetliner
travels at 500, 600 miles per

hour, the Concorde maxes out
at 1,354 miles per hour.

For comparison, the
Concorde travels faster

than the Earth spins.

One of the problems
when you're traveling

at supersonic speeds though,

is the air around it gets
compressed and heated,

and this could potentially
lead to structural damage

if the materials aren't designed

to withstand that temperature.

Concorde's engineers
have an answer for that.

The skin of the plane
is actually designed to expand.

In fact, the skin of
the plane stretches

almost 10 inches long.

The plane, in
essence, is growing

by almost a foot
during these flights.

After a
flurry of production,

the Concorde begins
making commercial flights

and it's an
immediate time saver.

British Airways
flies their aircraft

from London to Bahrain and
Air France flies theirs

from Paris to Rio de Janeiro.

Both go under seven hours,
which is less than half the time

of a conventional aircraft.

It's an
engineering marvel,

but as a money
maker, not so much.

The Concorde can only
hold 100 passengers.

For comparison, a 747
can hold four to 500.

It'll cost a passenger
four to 10 times as much

to fly Concorde.

This jet is also loud.

When it goes supersonic,
there is an awesome boom.

But this noise is so
loud that it's forbidden to fly

over populous areas
in the Concorde,

which means that lucrative
roots like LA-New York

are off the table.

All of this
convinces the airlines

that supersonic travel

is not the wave of the
future for most people.

But British Airways
and Air France lean

into these challenges.

They market transport on
the Concorde as elite.

This is a luxury experience,
this is a status symbol.

In 1976, a round trip
ticket in today's money

costs around $8,000.

By its final flight, prices soar

to the modern
equivalent of $21,000.

Paul McCartney could
be leading a sing along

with Prince Charles and
Princess Diana next door,

and Johnny Cash all in the
back, soaking in luxury.

By the late '90s,
the Concorde faces

mounting pressures.

skyrocketing costs, an aging
airframe, the tech boom.

Just think email
means all of a sudden

you can send a message,

not fly across the ocean
for a business meeting.

But really one
devastating moment brings to an

end the era of Concorde.

On July 25th, 2000, Air France
4590 takes off from Paris.

Runway debris ruptures a tire

sending its fragments
into the body of the plane

piercing fuel tanks.

4590 explodes killing
all 109 aboard

and four more people
on the ground.

The disaster
immediately grounds the

entire Concorde fleet and it
triggers a major international

safety investigation.
- By October of 2003,

both Air France
and British Airways

are forced to
retire the Concorde.

What's funny though
is people really lament

the loss of Concorde.

Thousands flocked to airports

to see it make
its final voyages.

To this day, Concorde is
still revered for its design,

luxury, innovation, but
most importantly, speed.

That's what it's known for

and that's why Concorde

is one of the most remarkable
machines ever built.

Speed isn't just
conquered on land or in the sky,

water is in the race too.

But water isn't predictable
like paved road or calm air,

being the fastest can be deadly.

One man decides
to take it all on

and create a DIY boat to
defy the laws of nature.

It is 1967 in a remote
lake in Northwest England,

and there's a boat,

a sleek hydroplane
boat meant to go fast.

It looks like it's out
of a James Bond movie.

This is the Bluebird K7.

The man at the controls
is Donald Campbell.

Veteran pilot, a national hero.

He already holds the
current water speed record,

276 miles per hour,

but with the Bluebird K7,

he's trying to
break a new barrier,

300 miles per hour on the water.

300 miles per
hour isn't just a record,

it's a technological boundary,

and engineers want to know
if a boat can survive it.

On his first run, Campbell
hits 297 miles per hour.

Records require two
runs averaged together,

so he goes again.

On his second run, he's
hitting astonishing speeds,

280, 290, 300.

At 315, the boat
starts to shatter,

and then at 328 it takes
off just like an airplane.

The bow lifts up,
the stern goes down,

and it crashes into the lake
and disintegrates on impact.

Donald Campbell
is killed instantly.

The footage is broadcast
around the world

and it sends a shockwave
through the speed community.

As a sad footnote, the
record doesn't count.

For years, no one dares

to take on the 300
miles per hour barrier

until a boat builder from down
under decides to go for it

with a little lumber
and a lot of guts.

Ken Warby is an
Australian,

and his CV does not
sound too impressive.

He's not a racing driver, he's
not an aerospace engineer,

he's just a guy with some tools,

some basic knowledge,
and an obsession.

As a teenager,
Warby is fascinated with Don

Campbell and he decides he's
gotta teach himself everything

he needs to know about
going fast in a boat.

A lot of people would've seen
Don Campbell's fatal crash

as a warning and an
omen to not try this,

but Ken really sees it as
an opportunity, a challenge.

He decides to start thinking

about where Campbell went wrong.

To become
the fastest on water,

Warby creates a radical machine

he calls the Spirit
of Australia.

Warby's caught
between two challenges.

To get to 300 miles an hour,
he's gonna have to reduce

what's called the wedded
surface of the hull,

the part that touches
the water at high speed,

but it's also the part

that makes the boat more
stable at high speed.

So, he's gotta find, how
little can I touch the water

and how stable
can I be together?

That is where he'll
find 300 miles an hour.

Weight is also an
issue,

whereas Campbell's
hull is made out

of a copper and aluminum alloy,

Warby's is made out of plywood.

He layers and shapes
it all by hand,

that encapsulates
it in fiberglass.

It weighs thousands
of pounds lighter

than Campbell's Bluebird.

'Cause he's using
wood in fiberglass,

it can actually absorb
more of the hits

from the waves at speed.

For power,
Warby gets hold

of an Air Force jet engine
and it only costs him $265.

The engine delivers
over 3,000 pounds of thrust.

That's enough to propel the boat

from zero to 100 miles per
hour in just five seconds.

That is blistering
for an automobile.

For something on the
water, that's insane.

The engine is a
leap into uncharted territory.

Using jet propulsion for
boats is really rare,

and it means there's no
propeller pushing this boat,

just a jet engine
powering it forward.

With this
homemade machine complete,

it's time to see if this
thing can actually fly.

Over several years,
Warby tests Spirit,

and tweaks and tests and tweaks,

trying to refine the product.

By 1977, the boat reaches a
speed of 288 miles per hour.

Warby knows he's close.

One year
later it's go time.

The site is a dam
reservoir with calm water.

As soon as the engine
lights the entire dam shakes.

You aren't hearing a boat start,

you're hearing a fighter
jet ready to take off.

He hits 280, then
300,

then he just keeps climbing.

It is a blur of boat and
fire flying across the water.

In this moment,

you have to imagine
Warby is thinking

about the fate that
befell Campbell,

this is the zone
where it happened.

Warby holds it
straight,

no instability, controlled
madness, a perfect run.

And then
according to the rules,

he has to do it again,

which he does, no problem.

He hasn't just set a record,

he's forced to rethink
in boat design.

317.6 miles per hour,

a new water speed record.

All right, take a steady,

she's a beautiful bird.

Warby shows what one man with
pluck and conviction

can do.

The record still
stands 45 years later

and counting.

For many machines,
speed is a show.

It's loud, is dramatic,
it's meant to be seen.

That's the opposite of what
you'd expect from a submarine.

But in the Cold War, the
Soviets throw out that rule book

and decide to make a sub

that makes speed
its greatest weapon.

At the start of the 1960s,
Cold War tensions are rising

between the US and the USSR.

The US Navy has one
of the most advanced

nuclear submarines in
the world, USS Skipjack.

Skipjack is capable
of remaining submerged

for a protracted period of time

and the submarine
is therefore capable

of attacking anywhere.

In late 1960, the
Skipjack has quietly slipped

into Kola Bay, the site of
the Soviet Northern fleet.

This is a deliberate incursion
into enemy territory.

She comes to within
30 to 40 yards of a pier

at the city of Murmansk,

that's close enough to see
buildings through the periscope,

close enough to get caught.

If she's detected,

it could set off a major
international event.

No alarm sounds
because the Soviets

don't even know she's there.

In fact, the Skipjack uses a
revolutionary teardrop shape,

which makes it super
fast and it speeds away

to report the intelligence
without even the

Soviet's knowing.

Although the
Soviets don't know about the

specifics of certain
espionage missions

like the Skipjack
approaching Murmansk,

they do know that they
are lagging behind

at the submerged speed
of their submarine fleet.

Speed matters
for another reason.

In a war, Soviet subs would
have to be fast enough

to chase down and destroy
American surface ships.

A single American carrier
can carry about 80 aircraft

and travels at about
40 miles an hour.

So, the Soviets start
to develop a submarine

that can move quickly
and attack these carriers

and their bombers before
they're able to launch.

What the Soviets
wanna do is build a machine

that's capable of moving at
high speed wind submerged,

but still capable of carrying
out a missile attack,

so they're creating
the perfect machine

for hit-and-run-type attacks.

That machine is the K-222,

is built to be the
fastest submarine ever.

It's designed to dash
in, attack and get out,

outrunning threats before
it can be counterattacked.

The secret to K-222
speed is its titanium hull.

It's the first submarine
ever built from this metal.

Titanium is a
difficult metal to work with

even today, and the Soviets
during the Cold War when making

the K -222, shipyards had to
develop new welding techniques

just to be able to assemble
the hull of this naval vessel.

Titanium allows K-222
to go faster and dive deeper

than any other submarine
that came before it.

The K-222 has two
nuclear reactors,

where as American submarines
like the Skipjack only have one.

Two reactors they believe
will give it speeds

that will make it untouchable

to American
anti-submarine warfare.

To make this happen,

the K-222 is gonna have
to make some sacrifices

and that comes on the
noise reduction front.

But they figured that's okay
because this incredible speed

that's gonna serve as
their means of defense.

All this,
it makes a difference,

American subs can
only do 30 knots.

When the Soviets
open up the throttle,

they blow past 40 knots,
maxing out at 44.7.

Here the Soviets have
achieved

a 50 mile per hour
submerged speed.

Inside the hull
screams, equipment shakes loose,

and the sound level
reaches 100 decibels.

That's the equivalent
of a rock concert.

The K-222 may be loud, but
in a way that's the point.

It's the Soviets putting
the rest of the world on notice.

It's that it doesn't
matter how quiet we are,

it's that we can catch
you and kill you.

One of the K-222's
first operational missions

is in late 1971 and it
shadows the USS Saratoga.

It's in the Mediterranean Sea
and heading back to the US.

The carrier detects
an unknown submarine

and tries to break away.

It goes full speed,
but it can't out run it.

K-222 gains on them,
moves even with them,

passes them, and
then disappears.

K-222 has proven to the US Navy

that I can catch you no matter
what speed you're moving at.

Eventually the subs noise outweighs

the benefits of its speed.

In 1981, it's located easily

by squadrons of US
Navy patrol aircraft.

It marks the final year
of the K-222 in action.

Even though the K-222
is simply too loud to be

practical, it does shift the
strategy of how both the USSR

and the USA are gonna be
balancing speed, precision, and

power in a way that they
simply hadn't previously.

So, what's the
legacy of the K-222?

Well, the record still stands

that 44.7 knot submerged speed,

that still the fastest
that any submarine

has moved in the water.

Trains were invented
to go faster than horses.

They went fast because
they ran on tracks

that kept them, well, on track.

But if you want to create
the world's fastest train,

turns out the secret is
to leave the track behind.

In the 1990s,

Shanghai is one of the fastest
growing cities in the world.

At the beginning of the decade,
it's about 8 million people,

by the end of the
decade, 14 million.

How does your city handle
this population boom?

That's what the Chinese
government has to figure out.

One of the problems

is that Shanghai's rail system

is still dominated
by classic rail.

Trains running on steel tracks
at under 100 miles per hour.

These speeds and scale just
aren't cutting it anymore.

Maintenance is too
darn expensive.

The city needs a
transportation breakthrough.

China starts looking
at a very different idea,

a train that doesn't
ride on rails,

it's called Maglev, for
magnetic levitation,

and the concept's not new.

In 1934,

a German engineer named Hermann
Kemper develops technology

to use magnets to lift
and propel a train

without actually
touching the track.

It's decades ahead of its time.

By the 1960s,

Germany and Japan start
turning this mere theory

into working machines.

Engineers test the
first maglev prototypes,

small, noisy, and unstable,

but they prove
the physics works.

The race to build a
real train begins.

Both nations research
and build test tracks,

but the technology proves
too costly and too complex,

and so enthusiasm quickly fades.

In Germany, the
company developing the maglev

is called Transrapid,

and now that they've hit
political roadblocks,

they're looking for
new opportunities.

Enter Shanghai.

Shanghai is fast becoming
China's financial

and commercial hub.

City planners want
world-class infrastructure

to match its status as
a city of the future.

What fits that bill perfectly?

Maglev.

In Shanghai 2001,
construction kicks off,

and these two unlikely
partners began creating

a railway system that will
leave all others behind.

Once completed,
the Shanghai Maglev

will travel at 267 miles
per hour, which is faster

than most of your short
haul commercial flights.

It's able to achieve
these high speeds

because the powerful magnets
lift the train off the rails

completely removing all
friction with the tracks.

This enables incredible speeds

that even leave bullet
trains in the dust.

The train has really
powerful computer systems

that are monitoring
magnetic forces,

track alignment and speed.

Maglev trains
don't run on tracks,

but there needs to be a
track called a guideway

that controls the magnetic field

that lifts and
drives the maglev.

The guideway has to
be perfectly straight

and level for miles.

You have to be within
millimeters of your measurements

to maintain stable
levitation at high speed,

otherwise you're
talking derailment.

The train is powered

by what's called a linear motor.

Coils in the track create

a continually moving
magnetic field

that pulls the train forward

and pushes it from
behind at the same time.

Maglevs are an
ingenious design.

It removes the biggest
problem with regular trains,

wear and tear from
mechanical systems.

Wheels grind down, motors break.

Maglev has virtually
no moving parts.

In 2002, the
Shanghai Maglev Train

is ready for a trial run.

The train
immediately outperforms

expectations, way outperforms.

It hits 311 miles per
hour,

earning its place in the
Guinness World Records

as the fastest commercial train,

beating the former
record train in the UK

by more than 100 miles per hour.

When it opens to the
public the next year,

it shuttles passengers
from the city center

to Pudong Airport in
under seven minutes,

which is a ride that would
usually take one hour by car.

People line up
just to ride it,

and not because they need
to get to the airport,

but because they want to
experience the future.

Today the Shanghai
Maglev remains

the fastest commercial train
to regularly carry customers.

In the 21st century,

ultra fast rail travel
looks to become the norm,

but the Shanghai
Maglev, it set the pace.

On Earth, we've pushed
speed to the limits,

but in space, a whole new
set of possibilities awaits.

One NASA mission
drives engineers to

build a machine faster than
anything humans have ever made.

March 13th, 1989,

the power grid in
Quebec completely fails.

Millions of citizens
find themselves with

no light, no heat, and they have
no idea what's happening.

On the same day
astronauts are noticing strange

anomalies in their sensors.

Other people are seeing auroras

as far south as
Texas and Florida.

Some people are afraid
this is a nuclear attack.

Obviously it's not
a nuclear attack,

but scientists are
able to trace it

to a different nuclear
object, and that is our sun.

Scientists discover

it was what is called
a solar ejection,

a massive solar energy
that can wreak havoc

with electrical systems
like satellites,

astronauts, even airline GPS.

It's like a shot across the bow

and NASA decides we
need to learn more

and maybe start to
predict solar activity.

NASA wants
to build a solar probe

that can get close enough
to the sun to study it.

The biggest obstacle
isn't distance, it's heat.

We know that the sun's
atmosphere called the Corona

is actually hotter
than the surface.

The surface has a temperature

of around 10,000
degrees Fahrenheit

while the Corona
reaches 1 million.

Imagine standing
next to a fire,

and the air around the fire

is hotter than
the actual flames.

That's the Coronal
heating problem.

To get to the sun
and have your spacecraft

survive, no one
knows how to do that.

By by the late 2000s,

NASA's got advanced
heat shield tech

and improved space navigation.

They've almost cracked the code

for emission to the sun, almost.

A probe that goes
close to the sun

can only survive the intense
heat for short amounts of time.

Just like with a hot skillet,

you can't hold your hand on
it without getting burned,

but you can touch
it really quickly.

Whatever is built has
to be the fastest thing

ever created by humanity.

By 2018, the Parker
Solar Probe finally emerges,

named after Dr. Eugene Parker,

a scientist once
ridiculed for calling out

the dangers of solar rejections.

The probe looks
kind of like a bale

and is roughly the
size of a small car.

The Parker Solar
Probe is designed

to reach speeds of over
430,000 miles per hour.

At that speed, you could
go from New York to Tokyo

in under a minute.

If you're wondering
how they're gonna create a

rocket that can push this probe
to 400,000 miles per hour,

the answer is they can't.

They're gonna have
to use the gravity

of one of our planetary
neighbors, Venus,

to grab the probe and slingshot
it back towards the sun.

Imagine you're riding
a bicycle next to a

moving train.

You grab onto the train

and now you and your bicycle
gather some of that speed

from the train,

well, a spacecraft will
pass close to a planet

and it will borrow from
the gravitational energy

and speed of that planet
to go more quickly.

August 12th, 2018 launch day,

and a special guest is there
to witness a probes ascent,

91-year-old Eugene Parker.

Five, four, three-

He watches
as the machine

that carries his name
lifts off to travel faster

than we ever have before.

It will complete 24
orbits

over a period of eight
years from 2018 to 2025,

getting closer and
faster with each pass.

We can't steer
the probe from Earth

because by the time
the signal reaches it

from 80 million miles away,
it will have already burned up

or survived all on its own.

The solar wind
moves at over 1 million miles

per hour, and the Parker Probe
sails through it measuring

particles, magnetic fields, and
electric currents

while it's inside the Corona.

Because of its speed,

the probe doesn't have to
withstand millions of degrees,

but it does have to
withstand temperatures

of around 2,500 degrees,

and that's hot
enough to melt steel.

The probe's defense
against all these

is a carbon composite shield.

It's 97% air, but it keeps
the Parker Probe alive.

It's a huge success.

The probe collects data
that may protect all of us

from the sun's effects.

By March, 2025,

the Parker completes its
23rd solar encounter,

all traveling at
its shattering speed

of 430,000 miles per hour.

The world's fastest
machine is still going.

From cars setting new
records, to a train, sub,

and even a space probe
shattering limits,

inventing the world's
fastest machines redefines

what's possible and shows
us that human ingenuity

can never be slowed down.