00:40:27,854 -- 00:40:31,290
i( narrator) Space exploration/i
ibegan with dreaming,/i
2
00:40:31,358 -- 00:40:34,657
ithousands of years/i
iof humans staring into the heavens/i
3
00:40:34,728 -- 00:40:37,891
iand wondering,/i
i"How did this begin?"/i
4
00:40:37,965 -- 00:40:40,092
i"What else is out there?"/i
5
00:40:40,167 -- 00:40:44,228
iThe earliest answers/i
iwere given in myth and poetry./i
6
00:40:44,304 -- 00:40:48,240
iNow they are sought by/i
ispace-age technology,/i
7
00:40:48,308 -- 00:40:51,675
iand while each mission/i
iincreases our knowledge,/i
8
00:40:51,745 -- 00:40:55,943
iit also leads our imagination/i
ifurther and further./i
9
00:40:56,016 -- 00:40:58,416
iHow did life begin?/i
10
00:40:58,485 -- 00:41:01,784
iDid it happen more than once/i
iin the universe?/i
11
00:41:01,855 -- 00:41:04,449
iThe answer may lie on Mars./i
12
00:41:34,021 -- 00:41:38,082
iMars today is desolate,/i
idry and barren,/i
13
00:41:38,158 -- 00:41:41,616
iand at first glance has little in common/i
iwith our own planet,/i
14
00:41:41,695 -- 00:41:47,600
iand yet from orbit we see what look like/i
idried-up lake beds and canyons -/i
15
00:41:48,435 -- 00:41:51,836
iclues that,/i
ithree or four billion years ago,/i
16
00:41:51,905 -- 00:41:55,841
iMars may once have been/i
iwetter and more Earth-like./i
17
00:41:55,909 -- 00:41:59,936
iAnd since life blossomed/i
ihere on Earth, the question is,/i
18
00:42:00,013 -- 00:42:03,278
idid it ever take place on Mars?/i
19
00:42:14,761 -- 00:42:18,629
iTo answer this question,/i
iNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory/i
20
00:42:18,699 -- 00:42:22,066
ibrought together/i
ia team of scientists and engineers/i
21
00:42:22,135 -- 00:42:28,563
iwhose mission was to discover if Mars/i
iever had what was needed to support life./i
22
00:42:28,642 -- 00:42:32,100
iA geologist and astronomer/i
iat Cornell University,/i
23
00:42:32,179 -- 00:42:35,637
iSteve Squyres was chosen/i
ito lead the science team./i
24
00:42:35,716 -- 00:42:39,516
iAs principal investigator,/i
ihe would direct the team's search/i
25
00:42:39,586 -- 00:42:44,523
ifor life's most essential resource -/i
iwater./i
26
00:42:44,591 -- 00:42:47,958
i( Squyres)/i I've worked on the question
of water on Mars for 28 years,
27
00:42:48,028 -- 00:42:52,522
You can't learn what you need from
a telescope, You must be a geologist,
28
00:42:52,599 -- 00:42:56,899
A geologist is sort of like
a detective at the scene of a crime,
29
00:42:56,970 -- 00:43:00,167
Something happened here
a long time ago, What happened?
30
00:43:00,240 -- 00:43:04,700
Was it warm? Was it wet?
Could life have existed here?
31
00:43:04,778 -- 00:43:07,713
The key is in the clues,
and the clues are in the rocks,
32
00:43:08,315 -- 00:43:11,113
On Earth, a geologist
can find an interesting rock,
33
00:43:11,184 -- 00:43:14,210
crack it open with a hammer
and just look at what's inside,
34
00:43:14,287 -- 00:43:18,383
But we're not ready to send
a human geologist to Mars yet,
35
00:43:23,964 -- 00:43:26,660
So we had to build a robot geologist,
36
00:43:26,733 -- 00:43:30,464
and the only place this could be done
was NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
37
00:43:30,537 -- 00:43:33,938
where some of the most innovative
engineers in the country work,
38
00:43:34,007 -- 00:43:37,170
We're talking about a robot,
a rover that can go to Mars,
39
00:43:37,244 -- 00:43:42,011
land on the surface, take a look around
and then cut the cord and go -
40
00:43:43,250 -- 00:43:46,219
carrying everything it needs with it -
41
00:43:46,286 -- 00:43:51,656
cameras, instruments,
communications equipment, everything,
42
00:43:52,592 -- 00:43:58,497
Something that can look inside rocks and
can tell us what clues those rocks hold,
43
00:44:05,505 -- 00:44:08,201
This place to me is almost sacred,
44
00:44:08,275 -- 00:44:13,338
This is the place where our rovers are
assembled before they leave this planet,
45
00:44:13,413 -- 00:44:17,440
Everything that we do
in this room must be perfect,
46
00:44:22,522 -- 00:44:25,491
Over 4,000 people
have worked on this mission,
47
00:44:25,559 -- 00:44:29,825
For every single piece of this spacecraft,
down to the tiniest one,
48
00:44:29,896 -- 00:44:33,195
there was a person somewhere
who conceived it, who nurtured it,
49
00:44:33,266 -- 00:44:36,827
who took it from a concept
to something real,
50
00:44:40,106 -- 00:44:44,304
lt's taken this team three years
to design and build and test these rovers,
51
00:44:44,377 -- 00:44:46,675
and we still have work to do,
52
00:44:49,850 -- 00:44:52,910
We can only launch when
the two planets are properly aligned,
53
00:44:52,986 -- 00:44:56,888
and that's just a month away,
but we still have tests to run,
54
00:44:56,957 -- 00:45:02,987
We're working in shifts, almost around the
clock, and we don't know if we'll make it,
55
00:45:09,769 -- 00:45:13,364
i( man)/i There's no one person who can get
their arms around this thing and say:
56
00:45:13,440 -- 00:45:17,342
''l understand everything
about this vehicle,''
57
00:45:18,645 -- 00:45:22,012
lt's now burst the bounds of our brains,
58
00:45:24,384 -- 00:45:27,217
This rover is more than
just a roving geologist,
59
00:45:27,287 -- 00:45:31,155
This rover also has to be a spacecraft,
60
00:45:31,758 -- 00:45:34,818
lt actually has to
fly itself from Earth to Mars,
61
00:45:34,895 -- 00:45:39,423
ln addition, it has to do
the very subtle and quick timing control
62
00:45:39,499 -- 00:45:43,833
of all the things that happen
as it enters and lands the vehicle,
63
00:45:44,771 -- 00:45:48,263
We had to stuff
all that intelligence and capability
64
00:45:48,341 -- 00:45:53,506
into that little six-wheel vehicle back there
so that it could get there safely on its own,
65
00:45:56,149 -- 00:45:59,209
i( Manning)/i l call our spacecraft
the ''origami spacecraft,''
66
00:45:59,286 -- 00:46:02,778
which means it's really
a complicated series of folds,
67
00:46:02,856 -- 00:46:06,485
We punched holes in the lander petals
for the wheels to snake through,
68
00:46:06,559 -- 00:46:09,756
We've had to fold everything
into these complicated shapes
69
00:46:09,829 -- 00:46:13,993
to get this system
to fit inside this tetrahedron,
70
00:46:17,671 -- 00:46:23,303
lt's beautiful, but at a price,
and that price, in this case, is complexity,
71
00:46:26,579 -- 00:46:29,104
i( Squyres)/i There have been
missions to Mars since the '60s,
72
00:46:29,182 -- 00:46:33,812
there have been dozens of them,
but two-thirds of those missions failed,
73
00:46:33,887 -- 00:46:36,447
Mars is a spacecraft graveyard,
74
00:46:39,759 -- 00:46:44,287
A spacecraft has to travel
about 300 million miles to get to Mars
75
00:46:44,364 -- 00:46:46,924
at about 60,000 miles an hour,
76
00:46:47,000 -- 00:46:50,060
but it still takes seven months to get there,
77
00:46:50,136 -- 00:46:52,502
Trying to hit our landing sites
from that distance
78
00:46:52,572 -- 00:46:55,473
is like shooting a basketball
from Los Angeles to New York
79
00:46:55,542 -- 00:47:00,138
and having it go through the hoop
without touching the rim,
80
00:47:05,752 -- 00:47:10,382
The smallest mistake on our part
could put the whole mission in jeopardy,
81
00:47:10,457 -- 00:47:14,223
Two of the last three missions to Mars
were failures,
82
00:47:14,294 -- 00:47:19,823
One spacecraft burned in the atmosphere,
the other one crashed on the surface,
83
00:47:19,899 -- 00:47:22,891
This time, NASA decided to
send two identical spacecraft
84
00:47:22,969 -- 00:47:25,494
to double our chances of success,
85
00:47:28,274 -- 00:47:32,176
The two rovers are named
''Spirit'' and ''Opportunity,''
86
00:47:34,347 -- 00:47:36,178
They have very different personalities,
87
00:47:36,249 -- 00:47:39,650
They did when they were babies,
back when we were first building them,
88
00:47:39,719 -- 00:47:42,745
''Spirit'' was our troublesome firstborn,
89
00:47:42,822 -- 00:47:45,347
Every test we ran,
it seemed we ran on ''Spirit'' first,
90
00:47:45,425 -- 00:47:48,223
and the first time you try,
it usually doesn't work,
91
00:47:48,294 -- 00:47:50,262
We'd run tests on ''Spirit'' and they'd fail,
92
00:47:50,330 -- 00:47:54,027
and we'd try to fix things, run
another test, and that would fail, too,
93
00:47:54,100 -- 00:47:56,933
By the time we got to ''Opportunity,''
we'd learned stuff,
94
00:47:57,003 -- 00:47:59,301
and things went much more smoothly,
95
00:48:16,489 -- 00:48:21,358
The biggest problem was underestimating
the size and weight of the rovers,
96
00:48:21,428 -- 00:48:24,363
Once we realized
how big they really had to be,
97
00:48:24,431 -- 00:48:27,332
we also realized that
the landing system we planned to use
98
00:48:27,400 -- 00:48:31,962
couldn't get them to the ground
in one piece,
99
00:48:32,038 -- 00:48:35,735
As the rover got heavier, the lander
got heavier, the aeroshell got heavier,
100
00:48:35,809 -- 00:48:38,175
The whole thing got heavier
and heavier and heavier,
101
00:48:38,244 -- 00:48:43,113
From the very beginning, on this mission,
it seemed like nothing was going right,
102
00:48:43,183 -- 00:48:46,983
i( Squyres)/i The air bags are like the air
bags in your car, but way more expensive,
103
00:48:47,053 -- 00:48:53,049
They inflate explosively around the vehicle
and they cushion the landing,
104
00:48:54,394 -- 00:48:59,127
The first time we tested them,
they tore open and deflated,
105
00:49:01,401 -- 00:49:02,993
Setbacks - we know
they are going to happen,
106
00:49:03,069 -- 00:49:06,436
l always tell people,
when you start these projects,
107
00:49:06,506 -- 00:49:09,373
the same thing probably happened
to Lewis and Clark
108
00:49:09,442 -- 00:49:12,309
and Captain Cook in their exploration -
109
00:49:12,378 -- 00:49:14,608
what is guaranteed
is there will be setbacks,
110
00:49:14,681 -- 00:49:18,082
i( man over radio) 3, 2, 1.../i
111
00:49:19,152 -- 00:49:24,146
i( Squyres)/i These rovers have to land
using a supersonic parachute,
112
00:49:25,091 -- 00:49:28,549
The parachute design we thought
would work ripped to shreds,
113
00:49:28,628 -- 00:49:32,621
The lander had gotten so heavy
that the chute just couldn't handle it,
114
00:49:32,699 -- 00:49:35,497
We were practically out of time,
and all we had was a chute design
115
00:49:35,568 -- 00:49:38,469
that would destroy the spacecraft
when we tried to land,
116
00:49:38,538 -- 00:49:42,497
i( Manning)/i We had to build
a whole nother set of new designs -
117
00:49:42,575 -- 00:49:45,135
no less than three or four designs
we had to test
118
00:49:45,211 -- 00:49:50,911
in the three months that followed in
our mad rush to make it to the launch pad,
119
00:49:51,918 -- 00:49:55,479
We were running out of money,
we were running out of time,
120
00:49:57,056 -- 00:50:04,189
The drop was successful, The fact that
the parachute exploded - not a good thing,
121
00:50:04,264 -- 00:50:07,961
- l'd rather have it happen here thani,,,/i
- Mars, That's right,
122
00:50:08,034 -- 00:50:10,332
Unfortunately, strictly speaking,
123
00:50:10,403 -- 00:50:15,102
that chute that just exploded was the chute
that we were planning on taking to Mars,
124
00:50:52,478 -- 00:50:54,969
i( Squyres)/i Mars is a tough place
to send a spacecraft,
125
00:50:55,048 -- 00:50:57,812
The average temperature
is 60 degrees below zero,
126
00:50:57,884 -- 00:51:01,081
lt goes down to 1 00 below zero at night,
127
00:51:01,154 -- 00:51:05,090
There can be dust storms that darken
the skies for months at a time,
128
00:51:05,158 -- 00:51:07,888
But if the rovers make it,
they'll give us the experience
129
00:51:07,961 -- 00:51:10,521
of what it would be like to be on Mars,
130
00:51:10,597 -- 00:51:14,397
We'll be able to look off into the distance
and say, ''Yeah, l'd like to go there,''
131
00:51:14,467 -- 00:51:18,028
and then actually go
and see what we find,
132
00:51:27,447 -- 00:51:30,075
The rover's arm has the same
dimensions of a human arm -
133
00:51:30,149 -- 00:51:32,549
with a shoulder, an elbow and a wrist,
134
00:51:32,652 -- 00:51:36,213
The arm tucks up tight under the front
of the vehicle for when we drive around,
135
00:51:36,289 -- 00:51:38,553
but when we get to a rock
that we want to examine,
136
00:51:38,625 -- 00:51:43,653
the arm unstows and reaches out,
using all of its joints
137
00:51:43,730 -- 00:51:47,666
to place the instruments on a rock
and to begin to study them,
138
00:51:51,137 -- 00:51:54,664
The hand has four fingers,
One is a microscope,
139
00:51:54,741 -- 00:51:58,609
two are spectrometers to tell us
in detail what the rocks are made of,
140
00:51:58,678 -- 00:52:03,342
and the fourth one is called the RAT -
the Rock Abrasion Tool,
141
00:52:09,956 -- 00:52:14,256
To examine the rocks, we've got to
get to them, and Mars is very bumpy,
142
00:52:14,327 -- 00:52:19,731
So to deal with bumps, engineers came up
with a ''rocker-bogie'' suspension system,
143
00:52:19,799 -- 00:52:22,825
lt's a very clever design
that allows each of the six wheels
144
00:52:22,902 -- 00:52:28,534
to go up and over a rock independently
while the rover itself hardly tilts at all,
145
00:52:33,446 -- 00:52:36,938
OK, come on in, guys,
Now, stay clear, Watch it, watch it,
146
00:52:37,016 -- 00:52:40,782
Stay clear of this, 'cause it's gonna move,
Watch the wheelsi,,,/i
147
00:52:40,853 -- 00:52:43,014
i( Squyres)/i lt goes way beyond
this single mission,
148
00:52:43,089 -- 00:52:45,751
The eventual goal
is to send humans to Mars,
149
00:52:45,825 -- 00:52:49,522
but the first person to walk on Mars
is not an astronaut today,
150
00:52:49,595 -- 00:52:53,031
lt's someone in high school
or in elementary school,
151
00:52:53,099 -- 00:52:56,296
i( man)/i So it's turning in place,
then, when it gets lined up just right,
152
00:52:56,369 -- 00:52:58,394
we're gonna drive it backwards,
153
00:53:04,644 -- 00:53:07,909
i( Squyres)/i We've invested so much work,
so many years,
154
00:53:07,980 -- 00:53:12,349
so much of our hopes
and our dreams into these rovers,
155
00:53:12,418 -- 00:53:15,353
And then when you think
about where they're going,
156
00:53:15,421 -- 00:53:19,221
the ride they're gonna get on that rocket,
the transit through space,
157
00:53:19,292 -- 00:53:21,590
what it's like when that parachute
goes out at mach 2,
158
00:53:21,661 -- 00:53:25,324
going through the Martian atmosphere,
159
00:53:32,405 -- 00:53:34,270
You're standing next to this little robot
160
00:53:34,340 -- 00:53:39,573
and you realize it's gonna spend eternity
on the surface of another world,
161
00:53:39,645 -- 00:53:42,637
lt's going to another planet, for real,
162
00:53:46,786 -- 00:53:48,777
And once they're gone, that's it,
163
00:53:48,855 -- 00:53:53,292
After the rovers launch, we're never gonna
see them again with our own eyes,
164
00:53:53,359 -- 00:53:57,921
We've done everything we can to prepare
them for the dangers they'll have to face,
165
00:53:57,997 -- 00:54:01,364
but it's gonna be very hard
to say goodbye,
166
00:54:03,403 -- 00:54:05,394
i(wind machine)/i
167
00:55:20,680 -- 00:55:26,141
''Spirit'' will be launched first,
then ''Opportunity'' three weeks later,
168
00:55:26,219 -- 00:55:28,244
Mars and Earth are both orbiting the sun,
169
00:55:28,321 -- 00:55:32,018
so they're always moving
relative to each other,
170
00:55:32,091 -- 00:55:34,150
Every 26 months,
there's a brief interval
171
00:55:34,227 -- 00:55:37,196
when the planets are lined up just right,
172
00:55:37,263 -- 00:55:42,428
At that time, and only at that time,
we have enough rocket fuel to make it,
173
00:55:42,502 -- 00:55:44,970
So this is our one shot,
174
00:55:45,037 -- 00:55:47,870
i(launch alarm blaring)/i
175
00:55:58,217 -- 00:56:02,415
i( man over PA) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.../i
176
00:57:43,122 -- 00:57:49,118
i( Squyres)/i We don't fire a rocket motor
all the way to Mars, We don't need to,
177
00:57:49,195 -- 00:57:52,096
We just place the spacecraft
on a trajectory to Mars,
178
00:57:52,164 -- 00:57:55,725
and let it coast for 7 months
and 300 million miles
179
00:57:55,801 -- 00:57:58,964
until it reaches the planet,
180
00:57:59,038 -- 00:58:02,474
Once it's been pushed on its way to Mars
by the launch vehicle,
181
00:58:02,541 -- 00:58:06,307
it has to maintain
its orientation toward the sun
182
00:58:06,379 -- 00:58:09,678
and it needs to be able to
correct its orientation and direction
183
00:58:09,749 -- 00:58:17,087
so that it would hit Mars and get to this
very tiny spot on Mars we're aiming for,
184
00:58:17,156 -- 00:58:21,684
So all that has to take place over
the course of the seven-month journey,
185
00:58:49,689 -- 00:58:52,715
i( Manning)/i Landing is when
the real challenge begins,
186
00:58:52,792 -- 00:58:55,192
Mars is so far away,
it takes about ten minutes
187
00:58:55,261 -- 00:58:59,197
for a radio signal to travel
one way between Mars and Earth,
188
00:58:59,265 -- 00:59:03,065
but it's only six minutes from when we
first hit the top of the Martian atmosphere
189
00:59:03,135 -- 00:59:05,660
to when we're bouncing on the surface,
190
00:59:05,738 -- 00:59:10,232
There's nothing we can do to help when it's
time to land, The rovers are on their own,
191
00:59:10,309 -- 00:59:13,073
and we're just passive,
passionately interested observers
192
00:59:13,145 -- 00:59:18,811
waiting for a radio signal that shows
whether or not they've survived,
193
00:59:21,787 -- 00:59:24,847
Not going to be an issue,
The current reported temperature
194
00:59:24,924 -- 00:59:29,520
is about zero degrees Celsius,
which is close to the limit,
195
00:59:29,595 -- 00:59:31,460
the flight-allowable limit, howeveri,,,/i
196
00:59:31,530 -- 00:59:33,691
i( man)/i Landing on Mars
is so complicated,
197
00:59:33,766 -- 00:59:35,893
There are so many things
that can go wrong,
198
00:59:35,968 -- 00:59:40,029
The flight computer has to know precisely
the right time to deploy the parachute,
199
00:59:40,106 -- 00:59:42,700
lf it deploys it too high,
when the parachute opens,
200
00:59:42,775 -- 00:59:45,107
the wind forces
will just rip it to shreds,
201
00:59:45,177 -- 00:59:47,805
lf we deploy the parachute
too low of an altitude,
202
00:59:47,880 -- 00:59:51,509
it won't open in time,
and it will just crash right into the ground,
203
00:59:53,419 -- 00:59:56,513
i( Squyres)/i The trick is every time
there's some critical event -
204
00:59:56,589 -- 00:59:59,319
the parachute deploys,
the heat shield falls away -
205
00:59:59,391 -- 01:00:01,621
we change the frequency
of the radio signal,
206
01:00:01,694 -- 01:00:03,719
And so Polly's sitting at her console,
207
01:00:03,796 -- 01:00:06,526
and she's looking for
these changing frequencies,
208
01:00:06,599 -- 01:00:10,865
And when the number changes,
she knows that this event has happened,
209
01:00:10,936 -- 01:00:14,428
that event has happened,
210
01:00:15,808 -- 01:00:20,575
i(Lee on radio) Flight Director Willis reports/i
iall systems go for Entry Descent Landing./i
211
01:00:20,646 -- 01:00:23,547
iWe are roughly 1 1 minutes,/i
i48 seconds from landing/i
212
01:00:23,616 -- 01:00:26,244
iat the Gusev Crater/i
iin the southern hemisphere of Mars./i
213
01:00:35,060 -- 01:00:39,963
iAtmospheric entry in 3, 2, 1./i
214
01:00:48,340 -- 01:00:51,070
We have just passed
one minute to atmospheric entry,
215
01:00:51,143 -- 01:00:56,376
Current altitude 1 21 miles,
current velocity 1 2,084 miles per hour,
216
01:00:56,448 -- 01:00:59,440
iWe are now at an altitude of 7 3 miles,/i
217
01:00:59,518 -- 01:01:02,783
imoving at a speed of/i
i1 2, 1 92 miles per hour./i
218
01:01:02,855 -- 01:01:06,256
iExpected parachute deploy/i
iin five seconds./i
219
01:01:06,325 -- 01:01:11,262
i4, 3, 2, 1, mark./i
220
01:01:14,400 -- 01:01:19,633
iWe are awaiting confirmation/i
ithat parachute has deployed./i
221
01:01:19,705 -- 01:01:23,004
i( man) Parachute's been detected./i
222
01:01:26,645 -- 01:01:28,078
iHeat shield deployed event./i
223
01:01:28,147 -- 01:01:30,741
iSpacecraft reporting that heat shield/i
ihas jettisoned./i
224
01:01:30,816 -- 01:01:33,842
i- Separation detected./i
i- Spacecraft reporting lander separated,/i
225
01:01:33,919 -- 01:01:39,789
imoving at a speed of 1 7 3 miles per hour./i
iWe are near our terminal velocity./i
226
01:01:41,527 -- 01:01:44,621
iExpected retro-rocket ignition/i
ion my mark. Mark./i
227
01:01:51,136 -- 01:01:55,300
iAt this point in time/i
iwe should be on the ground./i
228
01:01:58,811 -- 01:02:02,611
iAny signal that we receive from now/i
iindicates the vehicle would be alive,/i
229
01:02:02,681 -- 01:02:05,548
ion the ground and bouncing./i
230
01:02:11,490 -- 01:02:16,325
iThe spacecraft has to survive all/i
ithe bounces for landing to be a success./i
231
01:02:23,002 -- 01:02:25,095
iNo signal at the moment./i
232
01:02:26,105 -- 01:02:28,733
i( man) Stand by./i
233
01:02:29,241 -- 01:02:33,371
iSignal strength is currently intermittent./i
234
01:02:34,380 -- 01:02:37,076
i- We don't see a signal at the moment./i
i- Right./i
235
01:02:37,149 -- 01:02:40,141
iWe saw an intermittent signal/i
ithat indicated we were bouncing./i
236
01:02:40,219 -- 01:02:44,178
iHowever, we currently do not/i
ihave signal from the spacecraft./i
237
01:02:45,357 -- 01:02:47,723
iPlease stand by./i
238
01:02:51,730 -- 01:02:54,221
This time, we're approximately
ten minutes after landing,
239
01:02:54,300 -- 01:02:56,564
The vehicle should have
rolled to a stop by now,
240
01:02:56,635 -- 01:03:00,628
The deep-space stations in Goldstone
and Canberra are searching for the signal,
241
01:03:09,615 -- 01:03:11,082
i(woman)/i We see it!
242
01:03:11,150 -- 01:03:15,382
i-( man)/i What do we see?
i-( man #2)/i We've got the signal!
243
01:04:24,590 -- 01:04:27,855
i( Squyres)/i The first thing to do
is open our solar panels to the sun
244
01:04:27,926 -- 01:04:32,454
so we'll have some power,
This charges up the batteries,
245
01:04:35,434 -- 01:04:39,564
After that, we can deploy the camera mast
so the rover can see,
246
01:04:39,638 -- 01:04:43,574
and deploy the antenna
so the rover can talk to us,
247
01:04:58,190 -- 01:05:01,284
i(cheers and applause)/i
248
01:05:02,928 -- 01:05:05,829
i( man)/i Our first pictures from Mars!
249
01:05:23,949 -- 01:05:26,918
- What is that?
- That's looking down on our vehicle,
250
01:05:28,520 -- 01:05:30,351
i(woman)/i Oh!
251
01:05:48,373 -- 01:05:54,676
We could not have imagined
returns as early as this,
252
01:05:54,746 -- 01:05:59,183
as clear as this,
as successful as this,
253
01:05:59,251 -- 01:06:02,687
and in the volume that it has been,
254
01:06:02,754 -- 01:06:05,279
Ladies and gentlemen, Mars,
255
01:06:25,277 -- 01:06:27,609
i( Squyres)/i We sent ''Spirit''
to Gusev Crater,
256
01:06:27,679 -- 01:06:29,977
a crater in
the southern highlands of Mars,
257
01:06:30,048 -- 01:06:32,175
lt's 1 00 miles in diameter,
258
01:06:32,251 -- 01:06:36,813
What makes it special is that emptying
into it is a giant water-carved channel,
259
01:06:36,889 -- 01:06:39,858
Gusev is a hole in the ground
with a dry river flowing into it,
260
01:06:39,925 -- 01:06:43,884
There has to have been a lake
in this crater once upon a time,
261
01:06:43,962 -- 01:06:48,126
We sent ''Spirit'' there to seek out
sediments, to look for sedimentary rocks
262
01:06:48,200 -- 01:06:52,432
that were laid down long ago in that lake,
263
01:06:52,504 -- 01:06:54,768
Once we landed,
the scariest part of the mission
264
01:06:54,840 -- 01:06:58,037
was the initial unfolding of the rover,
265
01:07:04,016 -- 01:07:08,043
There are so many gears and springs
and motors and hinges and latches
266
01:07:08,120 -- 01:07:11,681
that have to work just right,
or you're done,
267
01:07:21,466 -- 01:07:24,526
Once everything's deployed,
we're ready to start looking around,
268
01:07:24,603 -- 01:07:28,699
We can look off into the distance with
our cameras and our infrared spectrometer,
269
01:07:28,774 -- 01:07:32,676
and we can learn a lot from a distance
of i5/i0 yards, 1 00 yards,
270
01:07:32,744 -- 01:07:35,645
about what the rocks look like
and what they're made of,
271
01:07:35,714 -- 01:07:38,547
Then, if we see a rock
that has a texture or a composition
272
01:07:38,617 -- 01:07:44,613
that looks interesting to us, we can drive
over to it and check it out in detail,
273
01:07:52,064 -- 01:07:55,033
For driving, the rover has
these kind of googly-eyed cameras
274
01:07:55,100 -- 01:07:58,399
that it uses to take images
of the terrain in front of it,
275
01:07:58,470 -- 01:08:03,305
They've got wide-angle lenses,
and they provide sort of a fisheye view,
276
01:08:03,375 -- 01:08:08,711
''Spirit'' uses these pictures to make
its own decisions about how to drive,
277
01:08:08,780 -- 01:08:12,682
lt'll drive forward, look at a rock and say,
''That's too big, l have to go around that,''
278
01:08:12,751 -- 01:08:16,778
Or maybe it'll see smooth sailing
and just move on,
279
01:08:16,855 -- 01:08:21,155
We can actually program different levels
of courage or cowardice into the rover,
280
01:08:21,226 -- 01:08:27,426
telling it how aggressive to be, depending
on how dangerous we think the terrain is,
281
01:08:27,499 -- 01:08:33,096
These rovers are so complicated that it
takes hours to get a set of commands right,
282
01:08:33,171 -- 01:08:38,131
so when we operate them, we'll normally
send commands to them just once a day,
283
01:08:38,210 -- 01:08:40,371
The first rock that we looked at
was this one,
284
01:08:40,445 -- 01:08:43,107
We named it Adirondack,
285
01:08:43,181 -- 01:08:45,411
When a rock sits
on the surface of a planet,
286
01:08:45,484 -- 01:08:47,543
it can undergo
what's called ''weathering,''
287
01:08:47,619 -- 01:08:50,110
When it's exposed to
sunlight or humidity or wind,
288
01:08:50,188 -- 01:08:52,156
the surface of the rock can be modified,
289
01:08:52,224 -- 01:08:54,692
and the evidence of how it formed
can be destroyed,
290
01:08:54,760 -- 01:08:56,751
So, to get to the clues you need,
291
01:08:56,828 -- 01:09:01,959
you have to get inside the rock,
below the weathered surface,
292
01:09:02,034 -- 01:09:05,561
The key to understanding Adirondack
was the Rock Abrasion Tool,
293
01:09:05,637 -- 01:09:08,868
The RAT gives us the ability
to grind into a rock,
294
01:09:08,940 -- 01:09:12,307
exposing the unaltered evidence inside,
295
01:09:23,555 -- 01:09:28,356
So we put a RAT hole into Adirondack
and then we hit it with everything we had,
296
01:09:28,427 -- 01:09:32,727
We looked at it with our cameras,
our spectrometers, and our microscope,
297
01:09:32,798 -- 01:09:36,564
Adirondack is a piece of lava,
lt's not a sedimentary rock,
298
01:09:36,635 -- 01:09:40,264
And every other rock around it
is a piece of lava, too,
299
01:09:40,339 -- 01:09:42,534
This was a huge disappointment,
300
01:09:42,607 -- 01:09:45,132
We came to Gusev Crater
looking for sediments
301
01:09:45,210 -- 01:09:47,678
that were laid down long ago
in a lake,
302
01:09:47,746 -- 01:09:51,273
but what we found was lava -
volcanic rock,
303
01:09:51,350 -- 01:09:55,411
The sedimentary rock must be there,
but it's been buried under the lava,
304
01:09:55,487 -- 01:09:58,217
and we couldn't get to it,
305
01:09:58,290 -- 01:10:01,487
When we realized that we hadn't landed
on the stuff we came for,
306
01:10:01,560 -- 01:10:03,960
we decided
we had to go someplace else,
307
01:10:04,029 -- 01:10:07,260
A mile and a half away,
there's this spectacular range of hills
308
01:10:07,332 -- 01:10:09,493
called the Columbia Hills,
309
01:10:09,568 -- 01:10:14,972
You gotta remember ''Spirit'' was designed
to go only 600 yards over its lifetime,
310
01:10:15,407 -- 01:10:20,208
so we set out for those hills
not knowing if we'd ever make it,
311
01:10:21,446 -- 01:10:26,907
Meanwhile, on the other side of Mars,
''Opportunity'' was about to land,
312
01:10:51,343 -- 01:10:53,470
When ''Opportunity'' landed
at Eagle Crater,
313
01:10:53,545 -- 01:10:58,107
it was a 300 million-mile
interplanetary hole in one,
314
01:10:59,885 -- 01:11:03,377
We rolled to a stop
right in front of layered bedrock,
315
01:11:03,455 -- 01:11:05,821
Bedrock is geologic truth,
316
01:11:05,891 -- 01:11:10,328
''Opportunity'' landed
in front of a Martian history book,
317
01:11:16,101 -- 01:11:19,161
When we drove off the lander
and looked at the soil in front of us,
318
01:11:19,237 -- 01:11:23,173
we saw that it was littered with
what looked like little round beads,
319
01:11:23,241 -- 01:11:27,177
an uncountable number
of little round things,
320
01:11:27,245 -- 01:11:31,682
We took out our microscope, we reached
out and looked at the soil in detail,
321
01:11:31,750 -- 01:11:34,446
and the picture that came down
was astounding,
322
01:11:34,519 -- 01:11:37,010
They were perfect spheres,
323
01:11:37,088 -- 01:11:40,148
l will remember for the rest of my life
324
01:11:40,225 -- 01:11:43,626
how l felt when l saw that first picture,
325
01:11:50,435 -- 01:11:52,699
When we got to the outcrop
and looked at it up close,
326
01:11:52,771 -- 01:11:56,400
we realized that the spheres
are embedded in the rock
327
01:11:56,475 -- 01:11:58,636
like blueberries in a muffin,
328
01:11:58,710 -- 01:12:03,079
The rock erodes away and the blueberries
fall out and roll down into the soil,
329
01:12:06,218 -- 01:12:08,277
The blueberries are made of hematite,
330
01:12:08,353 -- 01:12:12,813
a mineral that on Earth
is often formed in liquid water,
331
01:12:12,891 -- 01:12:16,327
Next we found jarosite, which is a mineral
that couldn't have formed
332
01:12:16,394 -- 01:12:22,094
unless there'd been water in the rocks,
so there was water underground here,
333
01:12:22,167 -- 01:12:26,228
Our most extraordinary discovery came
when we found ripples in the rocks,
334
01:12:26,304 -- 01:12:31,901
ancient ripples formed when water flowed
over sand on Mars billions of years ago,
335
01:12:31,977 -- 01:12:34,241
So there wasn't just
water underground here,
336
01:12:34,312 -- 01:12:37,304
there was water at the surface,
337
01:12:41,119 -- 01:12:44,520
''Opportunity'' discovered that
at this place billions of years ago,
338
01:12:44,589 -- 01:12:47,649
Mars was most likely a habitable world,
339
01:12:47,726 -- 01:12:52,459
A place that, for some interval of time,
was suitable for some forms of life,
340
01:12:52,531 -- 01:12:56,023
Decades of work paid off
with this discovery,
341
01:12:57,536 -- 01:13:01,996
Billions of years ago, there were
shallow occasional pools of water,
342
01:13:02,073 -- 01:13:05,133
Don't think an ocean,
Think of salt flats,
343
01:13:05,210 -- 01:13:07,610
And the water may not have been
a pretty blue,
344
01:13:07,679 -- 01:13:11,046
ln fact, it may have been so acid,
it dissolved iron out of the rocks
345
01:13:11,116 -- 01:13:15,177
and made wine-red pools
under a pink Martian sky,
346
01:13:31,503 -- 01:13:34,267
All the discoveries that ''Opportunity''
made about water
347
01:13:34,339 -- 01:13:37,103
happened in the first six weeks
of the mission,
348
01:13:37,175 -- 01:13:39,541
Everything went right for that rover,
349
01:13:39,611 -- 01:13:42,171
l call ''Opportunity''
''Little Miss Perfect,''
350
01:13:42,247 -- 01:13:45,239
''Opportunity'' lands
where the evidence is right there,
351
01:13:45,317 -- 01:13:49,014
The driving is like a parking lot,
Everything is perfect,
352
01:13:52,223 -- 01:13:55,624
''Spirit,'' our kind of tough,
hard-working, blue-collar rover,
353
01:13:55,694 -- 01:13:59,130
lands in this awful, rocky,
rugged place on a lava plain
354
01:13:59,197 -- 01:14:02,223
a mile and a half from
the nearest interesting rocks
355
01:14:02,300 -- 01:14:07,203
and has to struggle for five months
just to begin her mission,
356
01:14:08,974 -- 01:14:14,412
''Spirit'' had to work for everything,
literally had to climb a mountain on Mars,
357
01:14:16,281 -- 01:14:18,408
We use the power
that comes from the sun
358
01:14:18,483 -- 01:14:20,917
to operate the vehicle
and to charge the batteries,
359
01:14:20,986 -- 01:14:23,648
so the solar arrays are essential,
360
01:14:23,722 -- 01:14:28,091
On the way to the Columbia Hills,
''Spirit's'' solar arrays got coated with dust,
361
01:14:28,159 -- 01:14:32,255
We were getting to the point
where ''Spirit'' was simply gonna die,
362
01:14:32,330 -- 01:14:36,528
Then, one wonderful day, we climbed up
onto the crest of a ridge,
363
01:14:36,601 -- 01:14:39,695
where we were hit by not one
but several gusts of wind
364
01:14:39,771 -- 01:14:42,331
that just cleaned the solar arrays off,
365
01:14:42,407 -- 01:14:46,036
lt was like having a brand-new rover,
366
01:14:46,111 -- 01:14:48,272
''Spirit'' got high up in the Columbia Hills
367
01:14:48,346 -- 01:14:51,941
and started to find stuff that was different
from anything we'd seen,
368
01:14:52,017 -- 01:14:57,011
There were salt deposits in the hills
and rocks that had been altered by water,
369
01:14:57,088 -- 01:15:00,546
lt took months of work and struggle,
but ''Spirit'' finally showed us
370
01:15:00,625 -- 01:15:03,185
there had been water
on both sides of the planet,
371
01:15:03,261 -- 01:15:05,889
She gave us exactly what we needed,
372
01:15:09,768 -- 01:15:12,601
These rovers were designed
to last only 90 Mars days,
373
01:15:12,671 -- 01:15:14,935
and they've already
done many times that,
374
01:15:15,006 -- 01:15:18,305
They've developed personalities,
They're workhorses, They say:
375
01:15:18,376 -- 01:15:21,709
''Push us, Ask us to do more,
We can go further, We can go faster,''
376
01:15:21,780 -- 01:15:24,715
So we ask so much more
than they were ever intended to,
377
01:15:24,783 -- 01:15:27,377
and to our amazement, they do it,
378
01:15:30,722 -- 01:15:34,590
We don't know what will kill these rovers,
They do get old, Motors break,
379
01:15:34,659 -- 01:15:38,117
Lubrication goes away in the motors,
the wheels may stop turning,
380
01:15:38,196 -- 01:15:40,790
We have no idea what will happen,
381
01:15:45,070 -- 01:15:48,938
But they're not gonna last forever,
and as the dust keeps falling,
382
01:15:49,007 -- 01:15:51,237
the solar arrays keep getting dirty,
383
01:15:51,309 -- 01:15:55,075
What could happen with time is someday
we won't be able to charge the batteries
384
01:15:55,146 -- 01:16:00,140
to keep the rover warm at night,
and if that happens, it'll get too cold,
385
01:16:00,218 -- 01:16:03,346
and one morning, it just won't wake up,
386
01:16:10,495 -- 01:16:13,396
''Spirit'' and ''Opportunity''
have shown us that once,
387
01:16:13,465 -- 01:16:18,528
three to four billion years ago,
Mars had the essential ingredients for life,
388
01:16:18,603 -- 01:16:22,130
so the next step is to seek out
evidence of life itself,
389
01:16:22,207 -- 01:16:26,166
Right now we have
one example of life - us,
390
01:16:26,244 -- 01:16:30,146
We may be all there is,
We simply don't know,
391
01:16:30,215 -- 01:16:34,242
But if you can show that life developed
twice in one solar system,
392
01:16:34,319 -- 01:16:37,914
and then you consider the multitude
of solar systems out there,
393
01:16:37,989 -- 01:16:42,085
it takes no great leap of imagination
to believe that life might be
394
01:16:42,160 -- 01:16:45,926
a common phenomenon
throughout the universe,
395
01:16:52,270 -- 01:16:55,205
Our rovers have gone farther,
harder and longer
396
01:16:55,273 -- 01:16:58,868
than even we, their creators,
believed possible,
397
01:16:58,943 -- 01:17:01,377
They've done heroic work,
398
01:17:02,947 -- 01:17:06,041
But someday we won't need robots,
399
01:17:06,117 -- 01:17:09,280
Someday there'll be humans
on the surface of Mars,
400
01:17:09,354 -- 01:17:12,846
and boot prints in our wheel tracks,
401
01:17:20,031 -- 01:17:22,556
This mission has put us
on a great trajectory
402
01:17:22,634 -- 01:17:27,162
to learn more about Mars
and about ourselves,
403
01:17:27,238 -- 01:17:32,540
But right now ''Spirit'' and ''Opportunity''
are still roving Mars,
404
01:17:32,610 -- 01:17:35,443
lt's not just that they've
exceeded our wildest dreams -
405
01:17:35,513 -- 01:17:38,880
in many ways
they iare/i our wildest dreams,