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Systems this is prop.
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00:00:28,166 --> 00:00:30,332
I read you 500, do you read me?
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00:00:30,466 --> 00:00:33,866
These people are watching their life's
work come to an end.
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00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:35,366
The team is on its way to point.
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00:00:35,500 --> 00:00:37,033
On another world.
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00:00:37,165 --> 00:00:40,533
All right. Roger that.
7
00:00:47,667 --> 00:00:52,165
They were all young
when they sent her on her way.
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00:00:54,066 --> 00:00:59,366
These men and women have been traveling vicariously
with her for more than two decades.
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00:01:06,834 --> 00:01:12,400
And now, her work is done,
so she must die.
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00:01:16,632 --> 00:01:19,432
But before she
takes the fatal plunge,
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00:01:19,567 --> 00:01:24,400
they've given her
one final, epic challenge.
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00:02:46,933 --> 00:02:49,933
Gravity has a big bag of tricks,
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00:02:50,066 --> 00:02:53,699
none lovelier than
the ring systems of worlds.
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00:02:53,834 --> 00:02:58,332
Our own solar system, alone,
has four ringed planets.
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00:03:02,233 --> 00:03:07,133
This one, with the
romantic name J-1407B,
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00:03:07,265 --> 00:03:11,332
is the first we've
found circling another sun.
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00:03:11,467 --> 00:03:14,933
Why haven't we found more
ringed planets in our galaxy?
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00:03:18,966 --> 00:03:22,699
Is it that the
rings are so unusual,
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00:03:22,834 --> 00:03:25,667
or are the methods we use
to find exoplanets not very
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00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,900
good at seeing the ring
systems that may surround them?
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00:03:30,900 --> 00:03:34,165
J-1407B's ring
system is so vast,
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00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:37,332
that it eclipsed
its star for days.
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00:03:37,966 --> 00:03:42,400
These rings extend across an
astonishing 112 million miles.
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00:03:43,066 --> 00:03:47,667
They would more than fill the distance
between Earth and the sun.
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00:03:49,099 --> 00:03:53,099
But as enormous as they are,
they're shockingly thin.
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00:03:53,233 --> 00:03:57,766
If the ring system of J-1407B
were the size of a dinner plate,
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00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:00,800
it would have to be
100 times thinner,
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00:04:00,933 --> 00:04:03,633
as thin as a human hair.
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00:04:06,432 --> 00:04:09,432
This surprising contrast
between the immense territory
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00:04:09,567 --> 00:04:11,834
of a ring system,
and its thinness,
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00:04:11,967 --> 00:04:15,000
is just as striking
in our own solar system.
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00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,266
The outermost ring
of Neptune is so dainty,
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00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,199
that it was first thought
to be the fragments of a ring.
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00:04:22,332 --> 00:04:25,399
Not a ring, but
a collection of arcs.
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00:04:25,533 --> 00:04:28,500
That was, until NASA's
Voyager 2 spacecraft revealed
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00:04:28,632 --> 00:04:31,733
that the so-called
arcs were clumps,
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00:04:31,867 --> 00:04:34,966
the thicker parts of
a fainter, complete ring.
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00:04:39,533 --> 00:04:42,466
It's funny that the weirdest
planet in the solar system has
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00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,199
attracted the least attention.
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00:04:45,332 --> 00:04:48,100
Voyager 2 is the only
spacecraft that has ever been
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00:04:48,233 --> 00:04:51,332
sent on a reconnaissance
mission to Uranus,
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00:04:51,466 --> 00:04:55,033
one of the two ice giant
planets that circle the sun.
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00:04:56,667 --> 00:04:58,933
During its 20-year-long summers,
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00:04:59,066 --> 00:05:01,966
the sun never sets on Uranus.
45
00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:04,266
The winters are equally as long,
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00:05:04,399 --> 00:05:07,966
20 years of unbroken night.
47
00:05:11,233 --> 00:05:15,199
Unlike its fellow gas planets,
Uranus is cold-hearted.
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00:05:15,333 --> 00:05:18,432
It doesn't
generate any internal heat.
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00:05:26,100 --> 00:05:29,733
Uranus is one crazy world.
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00:05:29,867 --> 00:05:32,600
The outer edge of
Uranus's atmosphere is so hot,
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00:05:32,733 --> 00:05:36,966
it's hotter than
500 degrees Fahrenheit.
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00:05:40,132 --> 00:05:43,733
But Uranus also has the coldest clouds
in the solar system,
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00:05:43,867 --> 00:05:47,233
I'm talking nearly
400 degrees below zero.
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00:05:54,367 --> 00:05:57,399
What kind of ocean is this?
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00:05:57,533 --> 00:05:59,399
Is it made of ammonia?
56
00:05:59,533 --> 00:06:02,033
Water?
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00:06:02,165 --> 00:06:07,033
Some scientists think it may
be an ocean of liquid diamonds.
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00:06:07,165 --> 00:06:11,666
Note to space agencies,
might be worth another visit.
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00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:21,000
Then there's that thing
about it being sideways.
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00:06:21,132 --> 00:06:26,667
Uranus revolves around the sun at a roughly
90 degree angle to its own orbital plane.
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00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,934
What could have happened to Uranus that
it got knocked on its ass?
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00:06:32,165 --> 00:06:36,733
Our best guess is that
it went something like this.
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00:06:42,199 --> 00:06:45,600
Uranus was in
a terrible accident.
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00:06:52,933 --> 00:06:59,066
After the second blow, the rotational
axis of Uranus tipped 98 degrees.
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00:07:02,666 --> 00:07:04,826
There's another world in
our solar system that we don't
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00:07:04,934 --> 00:07:08,165
think of as having a ring.
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00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:11,266
The rings of Jupiter were
so dim that no ground-based
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00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:13,966
telescope ever saw them.
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00:07:14,100 --> 00:07:17,867
They were discovered when
Voyager 1 came flying by.
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00:07:23,300 --> 00:07:27,367
Our Saturn is graced
by the loveliest, largest,
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00:07:27,500 --> 00:07:31,934
and brightest ring
system of any around our sun.
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00:07:32,399 --> 00:07:35,600
It's the most distant planet that can be
seen with the naked eye,
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00:07:35,733 --> 00:07:39,066
and it made quite an
impression on our ancestors.
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00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:52,233
When I think of the Babylonians
of 3,500 years ago looking up
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00:07:52,367 --> 00:07:54,733
at the planets and stars,
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00:07:54,867 --> 00:07:57,466
I wonder how unlikely it would
have seemed that one of their
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00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,065
species would actually
send an emissary to that
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00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:04,333
distant point of light.
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00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,300
We are in the Deep Space Network room
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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00:08:18,132 --> 00:08:23,399
In this place, the most ambitious voyages
of discovery are directed and monitored.
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00:08:24,834 --> 00:08:27,199
Why are these
people so emotional?
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00:08:27,332 --> 00:08:29,533
They have committed
their professional lives to
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00:08:29,667 --> 00:08:33,799
a collaboration with this robot.
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00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:44,066
And now that partnership
of decades is about to end
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00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,332
in a most violent way.
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00:08:47,466 --> 00:08:49,966
The pathway from our
Earthbound helplessness to
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00:08:50,100 --> 00:08:54,332
our presence in Saturn's
skies is about to unfold.
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00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,567
What is that shimmering, unsteady
thing we're looking at?
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00:09:06,700 --> 00:09:11,232
That's what Galileo Galilei
asked himself in 1610 when he
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00:09:11,366 --> 00:09:14,600
became the first human
to see Saturn as more than
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00:09:14,734 --> 00:09:17,966
just a point of light.
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00:09:20,734 --> 00:09:23,432
So, this is the telescope
that made the modern
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00:09:23,567 --> 00:09:26,432
scientific revolution possible.
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00:09:26,567 --> 00:09:29,633
You know, you
really started something.
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00:09:29,767 --> 00:09:33,734
You looked through that
thing and found the cosmos.
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00:09:34,767 --> 00:09:38,133
That's not to say you didn't
make your share of mistakes.
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00:09:38,265 --> 00:09:41,000
You guessed wrong at
what you thought you saw,
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00:09:41,133 --> 00:09:43,667
believing that Saturn
sported two symmetrical moons
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00:09:43,799 --> 00:09:46,299
on either side of it.
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00:09:46,432 --> 00:09:49,265
Two years later, when
you took a second look,
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00:09:49,399 --> 00:09:53,734
you were shocked to find
that your "moons" had vanished.
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00:09:53,866 --> 00:09:56,799
This was because both
worlds, Earth and Saturn,
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00:09:56,933 --> 00:10:01,033
were in motion, and the two worlds
had changed in position to each other.
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00:10:01,166 --> 00:10:04,700
You were now looking at
Saturn's rings, edge-on.
105
00:10:05,399 --> 00:10:08,933
The Saturn ring system
is 175,000 miles across,
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00:10:09,066 --> 00:10:13,299
but on average only
a few hundred feet thick.
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00:10:13,432 --> 00:10:17,767
They were too thin for your
fledgling telescope to see.
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00:10:21,265 --> 00:10:24,933
But two years after that,
you took a third look.
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00:10:25,066 --> 00:10:29,166
Now, you thought
that the planet had arms.
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00:10:55,133 --> 00:10:57,799
40 years passed, until
a Dutch astronomer named
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00:10:57,933 --> 00:11:00,667
Christiaan Huygens took
another look at Saturn with
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00:11:00,799 --> 00:11:04,166
his own greatly
improved telescope.
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00:11:17,767 --> 00:11:20,399
Huygens was the first
to know that worlds could
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00:11:20,533 --> 00:11:24,667
be circled by rings,
and Saturn was one of them.
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00:11:24,799 --> 00:11:27,399
He also discovered
Saturn's largest moon,
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00:11:27,533 --> 00:11:30,933
which would later
be known as Titan.
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00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,232
When it finally came time
for us to visit that world,
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00:11:34,366 --> 00:11:38,299
our spacecraft
bore Huygens's name.
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00:11:39,866 --> 00:11:42,500
In science, there are
the Galileos, the Newtons,
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00:11:42,633 --> 00:11:44,567
the Darwins, the Einsteins.
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00:11:44,700 --> 00:11:47,899
And then there's another
kind of great scientist.
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00:11:48,033 --> 00:11:50,633
Not the kind that paints
a whole new picture of nature,
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00:11:50,767 --> 00:11:53,232
but, like Christiaan Huygens,
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00:11:53,366 --> 00:11:55,567
someone who has
much to contribute,
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00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:58,899
filling in a blank
or two on that vast canvas.
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00:11:59,033 --> 00:12:03,265
Such a scientist was
Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
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00:12:05,833 --> 00:12:09,734
He was born early in the 17th century
in the town of Perinaldo,
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00:12:09,866 --> 00:12:12,600
in what is now Italy.
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00:12:12,734 --> 00:12:15,299
Cassini didn't
start out as a scientist.
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00:12:15,432 --> 00:12:19,734
He began his career as a
pseudo-scientist, an astrologer.
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00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:23,533
Astrology is a collection of
ideas based on the notion that
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00:12:23,667 --> 00:12:26,966
worlds have certain
human personality traits,
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00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:29,700
and that the influence
of these distant worlds,
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00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:32,399
depending on which are
rising and falling at the time
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00:12:32,533 --> 00:12:35,600
of your birth, will
determine who you are and
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00:12:35,734 --> 00:12:38,100
what your fate will be.
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00:12:38,232 --> 00:12:39,966
It's another form of prejudice,
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00:12:40,100 --> 00:12:42,165
making unfounded
assumptions about who a person
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00:12:42,299 --> 00:12:45,767
is without bothering
to get to know them.
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00:12:46,734 --> 00:12:50,133
Astronomy and astrology
used to be the same thing,
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00:12:50,265 --> 00:12:52,265
until there was
a great awakening to our
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00:12:52,399 --> 00:12:56,100
actual circumstances
in the cosmos.
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00:12:56,799 --> 00:12:59,667
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus,
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00:12:59,799 --> 00:13:02,200
a Polish cleric
demonstrated that,
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00:13:02,332 --> 00:13:04,033
contrary to popular belief,
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00:13:04,166 --> 00:13:07,265
we were not the
center of the universe...
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00:13:07,399 --> 00:13:10,899
the Earth and the other planets
travelled around the sun.
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00:13:11,033 --> 00:13:14,232
Demoting the Earth from
the center of the universe
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was a severe blow
to human self-esteem.
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00:13:17,933 --> 00:13:19,567
More than a century later,
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00:13:19,700 --> 00:13:22,033
some people still
hadn't gotten over it,
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00:13:22,166 --> 00:13:25,000
and Giovanni Cassini
was one of them.
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00:13:25,133 --> 00:13:28,332
Cassini accepted
a terrific job offer,
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00:13:28,466 --> 00:13:30,633
an appointment by Louis the XIV,
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00:13:30,767 --> 00:13:33,834
the legendary
sun King of France,
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00:13:33,966 --> 00:13:39,165
Louis believed himself to be an absolute
ruler whose dominion was God's will.
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00:13:39,299 --> 00:13:42,100
But he was also the first
monarch in Europe to recognize
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00:13:42,232 --> 00:13:44,399
the great power of science.
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00:13:44,533 --> 00:13:48,600
He knew it was vital
to national security.
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00:13:49,966 --> 00:13:53,066
Louis the XIV was
inventing the first modern,
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00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,332
governmental, scientific
research institute,
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The Paris Observatory.
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00:14:08,700 --> 00:14:11,265
Cassini told the absolute
ruler that he would not be
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00:14:11,399 --> 00:14:15,633
staying long in Paris,
a year or two, at most.
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00:14:17,899 --> 00:14:21,799
But when the King placed his new observatory
at Cassini's disposal,
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00:14:21,933 --> 00:14:26,200
he lost all interest in returning home
to Italy ever again.
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00:14:26,332 --> 00:14:29,432
For the next 125 years,
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00:14:29,567 --> 00:14:33,899
the Paris Observatory
would be led by a Cassini.
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00:14:36,667 --> 00:14:39,700
Cassini rewarded his
patron with a map of the Moon
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00:14:39,834 --> 00:14:43,232
that remained
cutting-edge for a century.
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00:14:43,366 --> 00:14:46,200
King Louis financed a research
expedition to South America
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00:14:46,332 --> 00:14:49,165
to obtain more accurate
measurements of longitude,
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00:14:49,299 --> 00:14:52,799
intel of enormous value to
the captains of his far-flung
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00:14:52,933 --> 00:14:56,533
fleet and to astronomers.
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00:14:57,299 --> 00:15:00,100
Cassini took all these data
and became the first person
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00:15:00,232 --> 00:15:03,133
to calculate the scale
of the Copernican solar system
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that he had once rejected.
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00:15:06,100 --> 00:15:08,466
With his increasingly
powerful telescopes,
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00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,299
he discovered the
length of a day on Jupiter
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00:15:11,432 --> 00:15:15,133
and the bands and spots
on that planet's surface.
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00:15:15,265 --> 00:15:18,767
Cassini discovered Jupiter's
Great Red Spot independently
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00:15:18,899 --> 00:15:21,700
of Robert Hooke in
England, and to this day,
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00:15:21,833 --> 00:15:24,432
they share the credit.
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00:15:24,567 --> 00:15:28,533
Cassini went on to determine
the length of the day on Mars.
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00:15:30,232 --> 00:15:34,100
He was only off
by three minutes.
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00:15:34,232 --> 00:15:37,066
When he returned to his
observations of Jupiter,
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00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,966
he was stumped by the
contradictions in them.
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00:15:40,100 --> 00:15:44,000
The eclipses by Jupiter's moons did not begin
when they were supposed to,
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00:15:44,133 --> 00:15:47,799
they varied from
observation to observation.
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00:15:47,933 --> 00:15:51,200
Could it be that it was
due to changes in the distance
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00:15:51,332 --> 00:15:55,633
of the Earth from Jupiter, as the two worlds
moved through the solar system?
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00:15:56,533 --> 00:15:59,533
If that were true, then
light could not travel at
193
00:15:59,667 --> 00:16:04,033
an infinite speed because it was taking
longer to reach Earth.
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00:16:04,166 --> 00:16:07,667
Was the speed of light finite?
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00:16:07,799 --> 00:16:12,033
This idea was just too crazy for Cassini,
too revolutionary.
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00:16:12,166 --> 00:16:14,500
He rejected it out of hand.
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00:16:14,633 --> 00:16:17,133
If he had followed the
evidence wherever it led,
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00:16:17,265 --> 00:16:19,633
he would have given us the
yardstick for the cosmos that
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00:16:19,767 --> 00:16:23,232
we still use 350 years later.
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00:16:23,366 --> 00:16:26,066
But Cassini,
ever the conservative,
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00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:30,066
dismissed the idea
as being just too wacky.
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00:16:31,667 --> 00:16:33,734
Several years later,
a Danish astronomer,
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00:16:33,866 --> 00:16:38,500
Ole Romer, became Cassini's assistant
at the Paris Observatory.
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00:16:38,633 --> 00:16:41,966
Romer made his own
observations of the eclipses
205
00:16:42,100 --> 00:16:45,399
of some of Jupiter's moons
and found the same discrepancies
206
00:16:45,533 --> 00:16:48,533
in the data that
Cassini had dismissed.
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00:16:48,667 --> 00:16:51,700
But Romer recognized
them for what they were,
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00:16:51,834 --> 00:16:55,232
Pieces of evidence for
the finite speed of light.
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00:16:57,432 --> 00:16:59,799
There was a time, however,
when Cassini's faithfulness
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00:16:59,933 --> 00:17:03,299
to the data was so extreme,
that he was willing to risk the
211
00:17:03,432 --> 00:17:06,099
displeasure of King Louis.
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00:17:06,232 --> 00:17:10,500
The monarch asked Cassini to calculate
the exact area of his realm.
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00:17:10,633 --> 00:17:13,866
No one had ever attempted
to make an accurate map,
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00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,532
much less a topographical
one that would feature all
215
00:17:16,666 --> 00:17:19,032
the mountains and rivers
and valleys of France,
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00:17:19,165 --> 00:17:21,532
or of any other
country for that matter.
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00:17:21,666 --> 00:17:25,099
Cassini rose to the task,
but discovered results that
218
00:17:25,232 --> 00:17:28,567
could not possibly
please the King.
219
00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:40,866
Cassini told the King,
220
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,400
"I have some rather disappointing news
for you, Your Highness.
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00:17:46,099 --> 00:17:51,066
We all thought that France was a whole
lot bigger than our studies, revealed.
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00:17:51,733 --> 00:17:56,799
I'm afraid, Your Majesty, your kingdom
is much smaller than heretofore thought."
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00:18:01,432 --> 00:18:03,633
The King
surprised everyone with
his great good humor,
224
00:18:03,767 --> 00:18:07,099
saying, "Why, Cassini,
you've robbed me of more land
225
00:18:07,232 --> 00:18:10,700
than all the armies of
my enemies combined."
226
00:18:16,567 --> 00:18:19,700
And then, there
is his work on Saturn.
227
00:18:23,165 --> 00:18:27,567
He was the first person to know
what the rings of Saturn really were.
228
00:18:27,700 --> 00:18:30,666
He proposed that
they were not solid,
229
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:33,400
but instead composed of
countless satellites orbiting
230
00:18:33,532 --> 00:18:36,366
the planet, and he
observed that there was
231
00:18:36,500 --> 00:18:39,767
a division between the rings.
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00:18:40,266 --> 00:18:44,532
Cassini filled in some of the big blanks
in our understanding of Saturn,
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00:18:44,666 --> 00:18:49,133
but how could we
possibly ever get there?
234
00:18:51,266 --> 00:18:54,266
Accomplishing that mythic
quest was left to one whose
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00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,733
tragic life would have
been completely forgotten,
236
00:18:57,866 --> 00:19:01,099
if not for what
you are about to see.
237
00:19:12,299 --> 00:19:15,834
Weighing in at more
than 12,000 pounds at launch,
238
00:19:15,967 --> 00:19:19,767
NASA's Cassini
spacecraft is the size of a bus.
239
00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:24,200
That figure included 70 pounds
of plutonium 238 fuel,
240
00:19:24,333 --> 00:19:27,767
enough to last her
for more than 20 years.
241
00:19:28,333 --> 00:19:31,733
But that's not what
powered her mythic odyssey.
242
00:19:31,866 --> 00:19:36,567
She rode gravity's rainbow all the way
to the outer-solar system.
243
00:19:41,333 --> 00:19:44,333
The lineage of the greatest
of human achievements stretches
244
00:19:44,467 --> 00:19:47,232
further back
than we might assume.
245
00:19:47,366 --> 00:19:51,633
Some of their roots are buried
deep inside the tomb of lost hope.
246
00:19:53,032 --> 00:19:56,000
But somehow, dreams rise.
247
00:19:56,133 --> 00:19:59,299
The epic missions of the first
golden age of space exploration,
248
00:19:59,432 --> 00:20:00,866
and likely the next,
249
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,866
were made possible
by a man whose two names,
250
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,666
one real, one fake,
are equally forgotten.
251
00:20:17,333 --> 00:20:21,299
Alexander Shargei's early
years are not well-documented,
252
00:20:21,432 --> 00:20:24,866
but it is believed that his
mother, a political activist,
253
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,099
was taken from him when
he was only five years old.
254
00:20:34,866 --> 00:20:39,532
He took refuge in his father's physics
and mathematics textbooks.
255
00:20:39,666 --> 00:20:42,700
But by the time
Alexander was 13,
256
00:20:42,834 --> 00:20:45,567
the boy had lost
his father, too.
257
00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:49,066
He lived with his grandmother,
and despite great hardship,
258
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,333
he managed to be accepted at the most
prestigious high school,
259
00:20:52,467 --> 00:20:54,567
and afterwards
gained admission to the
260
00:20:54,700 --> 00:20:57,432
best engineering
institute in the Ukraine.
261
00:20:57,567 --> 00:21:00,866
But only two months after
he arrived there, in 1914,
262
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,232
he was drafted into
the Czar's army to fight
263
00:21:03,366 --> 00:21:05,099
in the First World War.
264
00:21:25,967 --> 00:21:28,232
In the hell of war at the front,
265
00:21:28,366 --> 00:21:31,400
Alexander Shargei
conceived a scientific strategy
266
00:21:31,532 --> 00:21:35,165
for exploring the Moon,
not intended as fiction,
267
00:21:35,299 --> 00:21:38,032
but as blueprint.
268
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,432
But Shargei's hell
didn't end with the war.
269
00:22:04,567 --> 00:22:07,467
Now, Shargei was forced
to navigate the treacherous
270
00:22:07,599 --> 00:22:10,700
political mine fields
of revolutionary Russia.
271
00:22:10,834 --> 00:22:13,933
He was much better at figuring
out how to get to the Moon.
272
00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:16,933
Former officers in
the Czar's army and those,
273
00:22:17,066 --> 00:22:18,967
such as Shargei,
who were forced to join
274
00:22:19,099 --> 00:22:21,133
the counter-revolutionary
White Army,
275
00:22:21,266 --> 00:22:24,266
were assumed to be
"enemies of the people."
276
00:22:30,767 --> 00:22:33,799
Shargei could find
no peace in the Soviet Union,
277
00:22:33,933 --> 00:22:37,933
so in desperation he
tried to escape to Poland.
278
00:22:44,133 --> 00:22:47,266
Shargei, weakened by
illness, was stopped by guards
279
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,200
and turned back from the border.
280
00:23:07,933 --> 00:23:10,933
These were dangerous times,
281
00:23:11,066 --> 00:23:15,032
and there was no telling what would
get you into serious trouble.
282
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:23,733
No one knows where Shargei
spent the next three years.
283
00:23:23,866 --> 00:23:26,200
He simply vanished.
284
00:23:26,333 --> 00:23:30,967
When at last he emerged,
Alexander Shargei was no more.
285
00:23:31,767 --> 00:23:34,232
In his desperation
to be left alone,
286
00:23:34,366 --> 00:23:36,933
he took the name of a dead man.
287
00:23:37,066 --> 00:23:40,333
He was now Yuri Kondratyuk.
288
00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:43,900
He finally published
the book he had been dreaming
289
00:23:44,032 --> 00:23:47,133
about since his
time in the trenches.
290
00:23:47,266 --> 00:23:49,266
No publisher was interested,
291
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,366
so he printed it
at his own expense.
292
00:23:53,599 --> 00:23:58,866
It was Kondratyuk's letter to a future
no one else could see.
293
00:23:59,567 --> 00:24:03,633
He wrote it "To Whoever Will
Read This Paper in Order to
294
00:24:03,767 --> 00:24:07,700
Build an Interplanetary Rocket."
295
00:24:09,834 --> 00:24:11,366
In the late 1920s,
296
00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:15,467
Kondratyuk was enlisted
to design a grain elevator.
297
00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:18,133
The Soviet Union was
going through a metal shortage,
298
00:24:18,266 --> 00:24:21,567
so Kondratyuk's challenge
was to build the largest grain
299
00:24:21,700 --> 00:24:25,834
elevator possible without
using more than a single nail.
300
00:24:27,266 --> 00:24:31,266
It ended up being so big,
they named it "the Mastodon."
301
00:24:34,532 --> 00:24:38,333
Such was the nightmare
logic of Stalin's Soviet Union.
302
00:24:38,467 --> 00:24:41,032
You could do the heroic
in service to the state,
303
00:24:41,165 --> 00:24:44,000
successfully execute the
seemingly impossible order
304
00:24:44,133 --> 00:24:47,467
to build a colossus
with but a single nail.
305
00:24:47,599 --> 00:24:49,366
And when it was done,
306
00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:52,467
you could be
imprisoned for sabotage.
307
00:24:52,599 --> 00:24:56,200
Who but an enemy of the state
would do such a reckless thing
308
00:24:56,333 --> 00:25:01,000
as building a colossal grain elevator
with only a single nail.
309
00:25:02,099 --> 00:25:04,567
It made no difference to
Kondratyuk's fate that the
310
00:25:04,700 --> 00:25:07,567
grain elevator functioned
for another 60 years,
311
00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:10,967
until it burned down.
312
00:25:11,467 --> 00:25:15,333
Kondratyuk was sentenced to three years
in a special prison camp,
313
00:25:15,467 --> 00:25:18,000
something new,
called a sharashka,
314
00:25:18,133 --> 00:25:23,266
where scientists and engineers slaved away
on the nation's most ambitious projects.
315
00:25:24,266 --> 00:25:27,967
Kondratyuk threw himself
into a wind power project,
316
00:25:28,099 --> 00:25:33,000
but still he dreamed of
exploring the solar system.
317
00:25:35,933 --> 00:25:39,099
Soon after that,
he met Sergei Korolev,
318
00:25:39,232 --> 00:25:43,700
who also dreamed of leaving
Earth to explore the cosmos.
319
00:25:43,834 --> 00:25:48,599
Korolev would later become the father
of the Soviet rocket program.
320
00:25:49,467 --> 00:25:52,333
Korolev wanted to enlist
Kondratyuk in his fledgling
321
00:25:52,467 --> 00:25:56,066
rocket program, but
Kondratyuk was so terrified
322
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,733
that any change in his status
might result in closer scrutiny by
323
00:25:59,866 --> 00:26:03,467
the secret police, he declined.
324
00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:08,032
If the authorities discovered
that Kondratyuk was really Shargei,
325
00:26:08,165 --> 00:26:11,866
there was no telling
what they would do to him.
326
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,967
When Germany attacked Russia,
327
00:26:15,099 --> 00:26:18,432
Kondratyuk volunteered for
armed service at the front,
328
00:26:18,567 --> 00:26:21,333
where he led a
communications outfit.
329
00:26:21,467 --> 00:26:25,032
His precise fate is unknown,
but he is believed to have
330
00:26:25,165 --> 00:26:29,633
died in battle on a
February night in 1942.
331
00:26:31,032 --> 00:26:36,834
Alexander Shargei, aka
Yuri Kondratyuk, was only 44.
332
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:40,133
That was the end of his story,
333
00:26:40,266 --> 00:26:43,266
but not his dream.
334
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,432
In the early days
of the Apollo program,
335
00:26:46,567 --> 00:26:49,733
the scientists and engineers
struggled to figure out how
336
00:26:49,866 --> 00:26:54,500
a rocket could leave the Earth
and land directly on the Moon.
337
00:26:54,633 --> 00:26:56,633
They were stymied.
338
00:26:56,767 --> 00:26:58,866
They couldn't figure it out.
339
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,532
You need a big powerful
rocket to reach the Moon.
340
00:27:02,666 --> 00:27:04,467
How could you land such
a thing on the surface
341
00:27:04,567 --> 00:27:07,567
of another world
without crashing it?
342
00:27:10,599 --> 00:27:13,333
Being able to guarantee that
it could take off again and
343
00:27:13,467 --> 00:27:18,066
bring your crew safely home,
was even more of a longshot.
344
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,733
This approach, known
as "Direct Ascent,"
345
00:27:20,866 --> 00:27:26,066
seemed like a dead-end to a NASA engineer
named John Houbolt and his colleagues.
346
00:27:27,299 --> 00:27:31,066
One version of the story goes,
two space scientists had kept
347
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,967
the spark of
Kondratyuk's dream alive.
348
00:27:35,099 --> 00:27:38,967
They delivered his 40
year-old manuscript to Houbolt.
349
00:27:51,266 --> 00:27:54,200
First of all,
to the question of the work,
350
00:27:54,333 --> 00:27:56,900
let it not frighten you...
351
00:28:01,567 --> 00:28:04,567
Speaking about the possibility
of flight implementation,
352
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:08,400
just only remember that there
is nothing improbable on the
353
00:28:08,532 --> 00:28:11,432
theoretical side of the flight
of a rocket into space...
354
00:28:11,567 --> 00:28:13,599
One, zero.
355
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,733
37 degrees.
356
00:28:58,866 --> 00:29:00,366
It's still looking very good.
357
00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:02,266
You're go.
358
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:06,165
We got an alarm. Bravo One.
359
00:29:06,666 --> 00:29:08,599
Bravo One.
Rocket 1201 alarm.
360
00:29:08,733 --> 00:29:09,834
1201 alarm.
361
00:29:09,967 --> 00:29:11,032
Standby for go, Flight.
362
00:29:11,165 --> 00:29:12,567
Okay, we're go.
363
00:29:12,700 --> 00:29:14,500
We're go.
Sync tight. We're go.
364
00:29:14,633 --> 00:29:16,099
Altitude 1600.
365
00:29:16,232 --> 00:29:18,099
Eagle looking great.
366
00:29:18,232 --> 00:29:19,933
Tranquility base here.
367
00:29:20,066 --> 00:29:23,767
The eagle has landed.
368
00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:26,333
The surface appears
to be very fine grained
369
00:29:26,467 --> 00:29:27,633
as you get close to it.
370
00:29:27,767 --> 00:29:29,900
It's almost like a powder.
371
00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:36,266
NASA picked up
Kondratyuk's vision of a
372
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:40,599
Lunar Orbiter Rendezvous and
took it all the way to the Moon.
373
00:29:41,299 --> 00:29:45,066
But Kondratyuk's
horizon extended far beyond.
374
00:29:47,066 --> 00:29:50,000
Kondratyuk envisioned
the first reconnaissance of
375
00:29:50,133 --> 00:29:53,467
the solar system by
swinging round the planets,
376
00:29:53,599 --> 00:29:56,432
and using the force
of their gravity to slingshot
377
00:29:56,567 --> 00:29:59,366
the craft farther
out into space.
378
00:29:59,900 --> 00:30:03,599
He dreamt that we would
swing from world to world as
379
00:30:03,733 --> 00:30:07,000
our ancestors had done
from tree to tree,
380
00:30:09,432 --> 00:30:14,266
bending gravity to human needs
on a slightly grander scale.
381
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,700
But what gravity giveth,
it can also taketh away.
382
00:30:27,967 --> 00:30:32,266
Why do some worlds
have rings, and others don't?
383
00:30:34,799 --> 00:30:37,299
Why no rings for Earth?
384
00:30:37,432 --> 00:30:39,666
Or Mars?
385
00:30:39,799 --> 00:30:42,799
We wouldn't recognize
Saturn without them.
386
00:30:42,933 --> 00:30:45,333
He looks naked
without his rings,
387
00:30:45,467 --> 00:30:48,333
but how did he get
them in the first place?
388
00:30:48,467 --> 00:30:52,066
This is exactly what the French astronomer
Édouard Roche asked
389
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,834
himself when he looked at Saturn
through his telescope in 1848.
390
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,900
Roche speculated that Saturn's rings
were the debris of a moon,
391
00:31:05,032 --> 00:31:07,532
or moons, that
had ventured too close,
392
00:31:07,666 --> 00:31:11,133
and were pulled apart
by the massive planet.
393
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,900
Roche was able to devise
an equation that applies to all worlds.
394
00:31:31,032 --> 00:31:33,700
It tells you how closely
a body can come to a planet
395
00:31:33,834 --> 00:31:37,400
before it's pulled apart by the planet's
tidal forces of gravity,
396
00:31:37,532 --> 00:31:41,133
and is turned into a ring.
397
00:31:42,967 --> 00:31:46,333
That's the Roche limit.
398
00:31:46,467 --> 00:31:49,165
But until NASA's Cassini
spacecraft executed a series
399
00:31:49,299 --> 00:31:51,967
of daredevil maneuvers
in the Saturn system,
400
00:31:52,099 --> 00:31:54,099
there was a vigorous
scientific debate about
401
00:31:54,232 --> 00:31:56,467
when his rings formed.
402
00:31:56,599 --> 00:31:58,333
Some astronomers
suggested they were nearly
403
00:31:58,467 --> 00:32:00,767
as old as the planet itself.
404
00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:03,866
More than 4 billion years ago,
when the planet coalesced out
405
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,933
of the disc of gas and dust
that surrounded the newborn sun,
406
00:32:08,066 --> 00:32:12,866
a moon, or moons, likely
violated Saturn's Roche limit...
407
00:32:14,432 --> 00:32:17,366
Others thought the
rings to be fairly recent.
408
00:32:17,500 --> 00:32:20,467
Perhaps, only 100
million years old or so.
409
00:32:20,599 --> 00:32:24,599
And the Cassini spacecraft
proved them right.
410
00:32:26,432 --> 00:32:30,400
What is Earth's own Roche limit?
411
00:32:31,967 --> 00:32:35,400
If the Moon were ever to come
closer than 12,000 miles,
412
00:32:35,532 --> 00:32:39,165
which, by the way, it's absolutely
in no danger of doing.
413
00:32:49,066 --> 00:32:51,599
And it's a good thing, too,
414
00:32:51,733 --> 00:32:55,866
because I like our
Moon right where it is.
415
00:33:02,900 --> 00:33:05,333
There's only one other moon
in the solar system that moves
416
00:33:05,467 --> 00:33:07,467
me like ours does.
417
00:33:07,599 --> 00:33:09,866
Maybe it's because it's
the only one with a thick
418
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,933
atmosphere like Earth's, and
the kind of surface features,
419
00:33:13,066 --> 00:33:16,633
lakes and mountains,
that remind me of home.
420
00:33:16,767 --> 00:33:20,733
All of this was hidden
from view by a dense layer
421
00:33:20,866 --> 00:33:24,200
of orange smog, until
the European Space Agency
422
00:33:24,333 --> 00:33:27,532
collaborated with NASA
to send a spacecraft to land
423
00:33:27,666 --> 00:33:30,733
on his mysterious surface.
424
00:33:30,866 --> 00:33:34,000
Yes, that would be
the one named after you,
425
00:33:34,133 --> 00:33:39,633
Christiaan Huygens, first to see
that world through your telescope.
426
00:33:47,232 --> 00:33:50,266
After an interplanetary
voyage of seven years,
427
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,165
the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
arrived in the Saturn system,
428
00:33:54,299 --> 00:33:57,000
the fourth of our
ships to venture there.
429
00:33:57,133 --> 00:34:02,066
But the first to send a probe to explore
the surface of Saturn's moon, Titan
430
00:34:07,967 --> 00:34:11,166
and to reveal a moon of far
greater complexity and splendor
431
00:34:11,300 --> 00:34:14,800
than our own rather
dull and lifeless Moon.
432
00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:30,032
As Carl Sagan had predicted
more than two decades before,
433
00:34:30,166 --> 00:34:32,800
there were seas of
methane, and ethane,
434
00:34:32,934 --> 00:34:35,967
and there was water-ice.
435
00:34:37,632 --> 00:34:40,532
When Cassini first
arrived in 2004 at Saturn's
436
00:34:40,666 --> 00:34:44,934
northern hemisphere, it
was in the depths of winter.
437
00:34:45,065 --> 00:34:47,900
And the Sun didn't come
out until five years later,
438
00:34:48,032 --> 00:34:51,432
when Saturn's
northern spring began.
439
00:34:51,567 --> 00:34:55,599
Is it just me, or is this
whirling hexagon at Saturn's
440
00:34:55,733 --> 00:35:00,000
North Pole every bit as exotic
as the fantasies our ancient
441
00:35:00,132 --> 00:35:03,132
ancestors had of these worlds?
442
00:35:03,266 --> 00:35:06,032
The geometrically regular
hexagonal shape of this
443
00:35:06,166 --> 00:35:10,333
feature brings to mind the
handiwork of intelligence,
444
00:35:10,467 --> 00:35:15,400
terraforming, re-working the surface
for some unknown purpose.
445
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,500
But it's actually the result
of the sudden change in wind
446
00:35:19,632 --> 00:35:24,367
speeds as vast upwellings
of ammonia rise near the poles.
447
00:35:24,500 --> 00:35:27,099
It's the mother
of all hurricanes,
448
00:35:27,233 --> 00:35:29,666
a frenzy of thunder
and lightning,
449
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,967
containing countless
hurricanes within it.
450
00:35:33,500 --> 00:35:36,867
Spring can be a violent,
stormy season, on Earth, too.
451
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,599
But it was during Saturn's
seven year-long summer that
452
00:35:40,733 --> 00:35:44,699
Cassini was commanded
to take her own life.
453
00:36:09,233 --> 00:36:12,833
There's a human conceit
that at the moment of death,
454
00:36:12,967 --> 00:36:16,166
we re-live our
greatest memories.
455
00:36:20,666 --> 00:36:24,199
You are riffling through the
memory bank of a doomed robot,
456
00:36:24,333 --> 00:36:28,300
about to carry out
the cruelest command.
457
00:38:38,099 --> 00:38:41,233
The mission planners at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
458
00:38:41,367 --> 00:38:44,500
call this the "ball of yarn,"
459
00:38:44,632 --> 00:38:48,934
13 years of exploration
through the Saturn system.
460
00:38:52,766 --> 00:38:57,432
From the time of her launch in 1997
and throughout her epic voyage,
461
00:38:57,567 --> 00:39:04,099
she has used the gravity assist conceived
100 years before by Yuri Kondratyuk.
462
00:39:05,233 --> 00:39:07,632
But it was her supply of
rocket fuel that made it
463
00:39:07,766 --> 00:39:10,900
possible for her Earthbound
controllers to steer her into
464
00:39:11,032 --> 00:39:14,333
new trajectories of exploration.
465
00:39:14,467 --> 00:39:19,199
In April of 2017, Cassini
was running low on that fuel.
466
00:39:19,333 --> 00:39:22,800
It was time for her most
daring maneuvers of all,
467
00:39:22,934 --> 00:39:26,733
before she was to be
sent into a final death dive.
468
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:40,900
These are the mission
scientists of Cassini,
469
00:39:41,032 --> 00:39:43,032
some of whom have been
working on the project since
470
00:39:43,065 --> 00:39:47,233
the 1990s, when it
was no more than a dream.
471
00:39:47,367 --> 00:39:51,400
They know that Cassini must die.
472
00:39:51,532 --> 00:39:54,333
It's too dangerous to
let her wander aimlessly.
473
00:39:54,467 --> 00:39:57,367
She might crash into one of
the moons in the Saturn system
474
00:39:57,500 --> 00:39:59,934
where life might be hiding.
475
00:40:00,065 --> 00:40:02,967
This would violate
NASA's planetary protection
476
00:40:03,099 --> 00:40:07,065
conventions on quarantine
in the book of space laws.
477
00:40:07,766 --> 00:40:10,199
If left to chance,
Cassini could alter the
478
00:40:10,333 --> 00:40:14,800
possible biological destiny
of Titan or Enceladus.
479
00:40:17,367 --> 00:40:21,733
A terrible command
must now be given.
480
00:40:30,333 --> 00:40:33,567
Cassini is so far away,
it will take the message,
481
00:40:33,699 --> 00:40:35,599
traveling at the speed of light,
482
00:40:35,733 --> 00:40:38,065
more than an hour to reach her.
483
00:40:38,199 --> 00:40:41,333
Every microchip in her
has been programmed to resist
484
00:40:41,467 --> 00:40:44,400
the commands
she's now receiving.
485
00:40:44,532 --> 00:40:47,800
The inner-turmoil of the
loyal robot commanded to defy
486
00:40:47,934 --> 00:40:51,500
her own instincts
must be fierce.
487
00:40:51,632 --> 00:40:54,467
The same engineers who
ordered her to protect herself
488
00:40:54,599 --> 00:40:59,632
in every situation now force
her to plunge to her death.
489
00:41:01,233 --> 00:41:03,599
They must be obeyed.
490
00:41:03,733 --> 00:41:05,500
System lead ace.
491
00:41:05,632 --> 00:41:09,333
We have telemetry
AOS at zero one.
492
00:41:09,467 --> 00:41:12,733
One, niner.
One two.
493
00:41:14,467 --> 00:41:16,766
She fights off the
immense forces by struggling
494
00:41:16,900 --> 00:41:19,632
to right herself one last time.
495
00:41:19,766 --> 00:41:22,500
She fires her thrusters at 100%,
496
00:41:22,632 --> 00:41:25,367
all the while faithfully
sending back more data than
497
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:28,300
her designers
ever hoped she would.
498
00:41:28,432 --> 00:41:30,099
Project
Manager. Flight Director.
499
00:41:30,233 --> 00:41:31,632
Go ahead.
500
00:41:31,766 --> 00:41:35,199
Okay. We'd
call loss of signal at 11:55:4.
501
00:41:36,766 --> 00:41:39,699
She fights the brutal
atmospheric resistance until
502
00:41:39,833 --> 00:41:42,132
her fuel tanks are empty,
503
00:41:42,266 --> 00:41:45,233
and there's no
more fight left in her.
504
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:51,065
Project manager on, maybe a trickleof telemetry left, but,
505
00:41:51,199 --> 00:41:55,699
just heard the signal
from the spacecraft is gone
506
00:41:55,833 --> 00:41:59,934
and within the next 45 seconds
so will be the spacecraft.
507
00:42:18,166 --> 00:42:23,367
Official time of
11:55 universal time.
508
00:42:25,900 --> 00:42:30,400
There are all kinds of stories in the struggle
to understand the cosmos.
509
00:42:30,532 --> 00:42:33,532
Sometimes your
dreams die with you,
510
00:42:33,666 --> 00:42:38,065
but sometimes the scientists
of another age pick them up,
511
00:42:38,199 --> 00:42:41,967
and take them to the
Moon, and far beyond.
512
00:42:44,567 --> 00:42:48,432
The name of Yuri
Kondratyuk was forgotten,
513
00:42:48,567 --> 00:42:52,233
but there was
one who remembered.
514
00:42:55,266 --> 00:42:58,666
When Neil Armstrong returned
from his trip to the Moon,
515
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,333
he made a pilgrimage to
the childhood home of the man
516
00:43:02,467 --> 00:43:05,567
who made his
mythic voyage possible.
44218
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