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In 2002,Mars was a spacecraft graveyard.
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Official YIFY movies site:
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At that timetwo out of three of the missions
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that had flown had failed.
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Spirit and Opportunitywere up next,
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and they were in trouble.
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Ohh!
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-Well, the drop was successful.
-Yeah.
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The fact that the parachute exploded,
not a good thing.
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To me it's a miracle
that they got to Mars at all.
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But they did,and then they just wouldn't quit.
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Betting against the roversis a good way to lose money.
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I don't do it.
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That was 15 years ago.
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This is like a car goinga million miles without an oil change.
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I mean, it's just phenomenal.
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Now their mission is over,
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and they've openedthe Martian frontier for good.
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Their persistenceand the discoveries,
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meant we were going back.
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Spirit and Opportunity,
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the legendary roversthat conquered Mars.
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Expected to last a few months,they lasted years.
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They climbed mountainsand crater walls,
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survived dust storms,frigid nights, and broken wheels.
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Intrepid explorers,
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destined for greatnessfrom the day they were conceived.
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At least, that's the way it seems now.
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It was always gonna happen.
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It was always gonna be a big success,
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it was nothing like that at the start.
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I-I-I didn't even know if we were
gonna get to Cape Canaveral.
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If we were gonna get to the launch pad.
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There were times when it looked like
we were just dead in the water.
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In the beginning,long before they were heroes,
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Spirit and Opportunitywere a last ditch effort
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to prove that NASAcould still handle Mars.
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They started really as a...
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I wouldn't say an act of desperation,
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but we had our backs against the wall.
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In 1999, NASA sufferedtwo embarrassing failures on Mars,
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an orbiter that lost its waythanks to a mix-up
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between English and metric units,
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and a lander that may havecut off its engines too soon.
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We never heard from it,
we never figured out what happened to it.
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So, in late 1999 the Mars program
was a complete shambles.
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Facing questions aboutwhether Mars was still worth the risk,
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NASA scrubbed most of its plansand debated the next step.
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It was in a placewhere we could just fold up shop
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and say forget about it.
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And so we looked at
our playbook and we said,
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"Well, what has worked for us
in the recent epoch?"
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Well, it was this Pathfinder mission.
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Mars Pathfinderwas a low-budget experiment
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by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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just before the two failed missions.
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We were setting outto prove that it was possible
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to build something really simpleand easy to land on Mars.
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It was exciting, a small team,
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we were doing things
that no one ever had done before.
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The goal was to invent
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a new way of landing on Marsusing airbags,
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with a fold-up lander insidecarrying a small rover
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the size of a microwave oven.
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It had been 20 yearssince anybody had landed on Mars.
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The guys who did Pathfinderwere making it up from scratch.
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And they were young.
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On the 4th of July, 1997,they pulled it off,
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and the little roverwas a big hit with the public.
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So a Pathfinder follow-uplooked like good bet
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to restore confidencein Mars exploration.
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratoryin Pasadena, California
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would design and build the spacecraft,
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land it on Mars, and run the missiononce it got there.
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And a planetary scientistnamed Steve Squyres
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would lead the science teamwith a new approach to exploring Mars.
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With a couple of failures behind us
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and a lot of uncertainty ahead of us
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there was an enormous amount of attentionfocused on our mission.
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I don't know what would have happened
if we had failed.
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It would not have been good.
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Squyres produced this animation
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to show all the stakeholdershow everything was supposed to work,
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from the fiery entry into the atmosphereall the way to the ground.
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The idea wasthe original Pathfinder lander,
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with the Pathfinder airbags,
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the Pathfinder parachute,
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and we'd just putsomething different inside.
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On Mars Pathfinder, the landerwas where the computer was,
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that was where the brains were,
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that was wherethe bulk of the instruments were.
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The thing that made this missiondifferent was the rovers.
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What we did wasput the biggest rover
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we could possibly fit inside that lander.
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And everything moves.
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Everything travels with you as you go.
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All your instruments,your power system and your computer.
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And that enables true exploration.
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This rover would domore than just land on Mars.
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It would explore, like a geologist,searching for clues
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to whether Mars was ever a placethat could have supported life.
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NASA decided to build not one,but two of these robot geologists
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to double the chances of success,
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and by the time they approved the plan,
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the schedule was already tight.
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As they orbit the sun,Earth and Mars get close enough
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to launch a missionjust once every 26 months.
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Miss that chance and you have to waitanother 26 months.
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Their deadline was the summer of 2003,
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less than three years away.
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We put a team together.
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I mean, it's the first timeI'd done anything,
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so as a rookie principal investigatorI had a lot to learn.
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And not much time to learn it.
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We had to succeed.
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That was just all there was to it.
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We had to succeed.
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The way we did it was bypushing an incredibly talented team
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harder thanthey ever should have been pushed.
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People were working insane hours.
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We were all so committed,
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that we just pouredeverything we had into it.
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One of the toughest jobsfell to the team responsible
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for something that was supposedto be straightforward,
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making the already provenPathfinder landing system
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work with the new rovers.
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Normally when we develop a missionwe have about five years.
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We only had about three years
at the outset
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for Spirit and Opportunity,
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very tight time line.
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We thought it would be okay
because we were reusing
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this Pathfinder landing system.
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I was young and hungrywith a relatively fresh-minted PhD.
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I found myself positioned to leadthe mechanical engineering
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for the landing system,
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which meant learning about parachutesand learning about airbags
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and learning about rocketsand heat shields.
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Learning about a whole bunch of new stuff
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that I hadn't learned in school.
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Entry, descent and landing,EDL for short,
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covers everything from enteringthe Martian atmosphere to touchdown.
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The trouble startedwith the Pathfinder airbags.
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We intended to usethe exact same technique,
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in fact the exact same airbags.
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We were going to just
rebuild those airbags.
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For the first testthey found a spare set of bags
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left over from Pathfinder.
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We wanted to get some testingunder our belts really quickly.
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We used the world'slargest vacuum chamber,
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100 feet tall and 75 feet wide
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that we can pump down to Mars conditions
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and throw these inflated bagsat a simulated Martian surface,
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sort of a worst-caseMartian landing site.
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We thought for surethat they would prove out.
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-JPL?
-Ready.
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We inflated them.
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And we see the airbags impact the surface
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and as they roll awayyou can see this gaping hole.
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That was a bummer.
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Now very quickly we said,
"Oh, but those bags are old."
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We have to have to buildsome fresh bags and come back.
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And we did that.
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And the next test,looking through the same cameras,
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boom, a big holeas the bags roll away.
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Now we're starting to feel the pressure.
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Then came the parachutes.
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We were testing themat National Guard Gunnery Range
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south of Boise, Idaho.
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We lift our test vehiclewith the parachute on it.
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We get it up to altitude,
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we let go of the test vehicle.
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We see a beautiful inflationof the parachute and then...
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Ohh!
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Wow!
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It's another... "oh, shoot" moment.
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Uh, well, I mean, the drop was successful.
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The fact that the parachute exploded,
not a good thing.
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Well, yeah, but I'd rather
have it happen here than...
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-Mars. That's right.
-Yeah.
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Unfortunately, strictly speaking,
that chute that just exploded
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was the chute that we were
planning on taking to Mars.
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I believe it was that very daywe had another test article,
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strapped it in, put it up, dropped it...
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and, boom...
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Ohh!
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...it blows up again.
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And we're back to the hotel,all hands on deck,
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so we can start to tryand pull apart this puzzle
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of why are we blowing up our parachutes.
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We're ripping airbags,
we're exploding parachutes.
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There's not a single thing
I can do about that.
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That's in the hands
of capable engineers.
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It's their job to go off
and solve the problems.
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And... all you can do is hope.
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We are scrambling
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to find the time and the brainpower
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to do these redesigns
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of things that we thoughtwe'd be able to fly again.
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It didn't take longto discover the problem.
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The rovers were biggerand heavier than expected,
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and had outgrownthe old Pathfinder landing system.
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Once we realizedhow big the rover had to be
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to do the job that we hadagreed to have it do,
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everything had to change.
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We needed a new lander.
We needed new airbags.
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We needed new parachutes.
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And that, so that busted our schedule
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and, uh, busted our budget.
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NARRATOR:
Meanwhile, the scientists had to decide
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where on Mars they shouldsend the rovers to investigate
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whether it ever had the waternecessary for life.
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One possibility was a flat plaincalled Meridiani Planum
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where orbiters detected a mineralthat could have formed in water.
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The Meridiani sitewas not a sure thing by any means.
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The main thing that it had going for it,
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was that it was smooth and flat
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and the winds weren't very high.
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And so it looked like a safe place to land
and a safe place to drive around.
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A more exciting targetwas Gusev Crater
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which appeared to be a dried up lake bed.
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Gusev is a big crater,160 kilometers in diameter
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and there's a dry river bedflowing into it.
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Now there's no waterin that river now.
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There hasn't been for billions of yearsbut it's-it's a big hole in the ground
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with a dry river flowing into it.
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There has to have been a lake there.
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The downside to Gusev was wind.
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Side winds could makeour system swing in the breeze.
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And if we lit our rockets upwhen we were swinging
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we could reallystart moving ourselves sideways
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and tear the bags apart.
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In Gusev Crater,
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they'd have to counteract the windwith steering rockets.
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And they'd need extra high performancefrom the airbags and parachutes.
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After more than a yearof intensive work,
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the landing team was backat the vacuum chamber.
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The airbags had beencompletely redesigned
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to handle the worst-case scenarioson Mars.
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Release.
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That looks good.
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-This is awesome!
-This is awesome.
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We're looking now at...
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TOM :
That's... I mean, it's perfect.
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There's not a tear.
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Sacrificial layers of Vectran,a high-tech synthetic,
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absorbed the impact from the rocks.
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ADAM :
This is a glorious pass.
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It worked likea bulletproof vest
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protecting a double inner bladderholding the air.
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We're talking
about 100 percent margin.
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NARRATOR:
The airbags were ready for Mars.
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That is beautiful.
254
00:14:54,627 --> 00:14:57,963
By then the team believedthey'd also solved the parachute problem,
255
00:14:58,697 --> 00:15:00,132
but they still had to prove it.
256
00:15:03,102 --> 00:15:05,237
ADAM:
After our parachute failures in Boise
257
00:15:05,537 --> 00:15:09,541
we needed a way of testing more rapidly
258
00:15:09,808 --> 00:15:12,077
and in more controlled environments.
259
00:15:13,045 --> 00:15:16,115
We turned to the world's largestwind tunnel.
260
00:15:16,615 --> 00:15:22,354
It's a huge eight-story tall,120-foot-wide test section.
261
00:15:22,988 --> 00:15:24,990
We have a big postthat sits up in the middle
262
00:15:25,057 --> 00:15:27,626
and it holds our parachute canister
263
00:15:27,693 --> 00:15:30,229
like the one we would usegoing to Mars.
264
00:15:32,965 --> 00:15:35,200
They'd spent monthsdesigning and building
265
00:15:35,267 --> 00:15:37,703
a new set of high-performance parachutes,
266
00:15:37,970 --> 00:15:40,406
and there was no timefor any more setbacks.
267
00:15:40,839 --> 00:15:43,542
This test is the big deal.
268
00:15:43,976 --> 00:15:46,111
You know, if we have a failure here
269
00:15:46,178 --> 00:15:49,949
that's gonna start
a measure of desperation
270
00:15:50,015 --> 00:15:52,084
we never wanna find ourselves in, so...
271
00:15:55,054 --> 00:15:57,823
With the fans blowingat up to 100 miles an hour,
272
00:15:57,890 --> 00:16:02,461
a parachute inflates with the same forceit would experience at supersonic speed
273
00:16:02,528 --> 00:16:04,063
in the thin atmosphere of Mars.
274
00:16:04,129 --> 00:16:07,099
...two, one, fire.
275
00:16:11,403 --> 00:16:13,072
Come on, come on.
276
00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:18,744
That's...
277
00:16:18,811 --> 00:16:21,113
CONTROLLER :
Strong oscillation on the strut.
278
00:16:21,180 --> 00:16:25,484
ADAM :
What is that? What is that?
279
00:16:27,252 --> 00:16:29,955
It's called squiddingin the parachute community.
280
00:16:31,223 --> 00:16:33,225
This was the first time I'd ever seen it.
281
00:16:33,292 --> 00:16:35,394
This was the first timea lot of folks had ever seen it.
282
00:16:35,828 --> 00:16:38,831
We were dumbfoundedas to what to do.
283
00:16:39,298 --> 00:16:42,768
It's super, super, super, mega...
This is super mega bummer.
284
00:16:43,068 --> 00:16:44,036
So...
285
00:16:44,636 --> 00:16:46,338
Just when we thought we were there,
286
00:16:46,405 --> 00:16:48,607
just about to cross the finish line,
287
00:16:49,608 --> 00:16:51,076
out of nowhere this thing comes.
288
00:16:52,811 --> 00:16:56,148
It certainly was the worst feelingsI'd had thus far in the project.
289
00:16:57,516 --> 00:16:59,151
When this thing wouldn't inflate
290
00:16:59,485 --> 00:17:01,453
there were dozens of possibilities
291
00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,323
of what it might be
and we didn't know what it was.
292
00:17:06,258 --> 00:17:09,028
I kinda thought I might be staringat the end of this project
293
00:17:10,229 --> 00:17:12,331
because if we didn'tfind a solution for this...
294
00:17:13,399 --> 00:17:14,666
we weren't going to Mars.
295
00:17:19,805 --> 00:17:21,907
NARRATOR:
When the parachute failed to open,
296
00:17:21,974 --> 00:17:24,143
it looked like the mission might be over.
297
00:17:25,744 --> 00:17:29,114
Supersonic chute problemscan be nightmares to unravel.
298
00:17:30,949 --> 00:17:34,420
Fortunately, this puzzlehad a simple solution.
299
00:17:35,621 --> 00:17:38,924
The vent hole at the top of the chutewas a little too big.
300
00:17:39,825 --> 00:17:42,194
When they got it right,they were back in business.
301
00:17:43,996 --> 00:17:46,465
What we discovered quite rapidly
302
00:17:47,199 --> 00:17:51,470
was that this parachute,
has plenty of reserve strength
303
00:17:51,537 --> 00:17:53,639
and good inflation characteristics,
304
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,142
and this is the parachute
we're gonna take to Mars.
305
00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,651
NARRATOR: By January 2003,the parachutes were qualified for flight,
306
00:18:06,018 --> 00:18:08,253
just five months before launch.
307
00:18:10,522 --> 00:18:13,759
For the landing team,the biggest issues were now behind them.
308
00:18:14,626 --> 00:18:18,797
But each problem solvedwas a reminder of how fine the line was
309
00:18:18,864 --> 00:18:21,100
between success and failure.
310
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:23,469
Each time we would hit a problem,
311
00:18:23,535 --> 00:18:25,137
you know, we'd find a solution,
312
00:18:25,604 --> 00:18:29,074
but you never know when you're gonna hitthat one that's gonna end it all.
313
00:18:30,742 --> 00:18:33,979
Any day now there may be a test failure,
something goes wrong
314
00:18:34,046 --> 00:18:36,949
and you go, "All right, we're done."
315
00:18:37,916 --> 00:18:39,218
You know, that was scary.
316
00:18:42,621 --> 00:18:45,524
The rovers,science instruments, and spacecraft
317
00:18:45,591 --> 00:18:49,294
had all gone through a grueling regimenof testing, and retesting,
318
00:18:50,262 --> 00:18:53,365
a relentless searchfor anything and everything
319
00:18:53,432 --> 00:18:54,933
that could possibly go wrong.
320
00:18:57,603 --> 00:19:02,007
It was understood that a failed missionwould be worse than no mission at all.
321
00:19:03,509 --> 00:19:05,844
STEVE:
Having had two missions before us fail
322
00:19:05,911 --> 00:19:09,181
the view that I think existed
in NASA headquarters
323
00:19:09,248 --> 00:19:12,084
and in retrospect it makes
a lot of sense to me now,
324
00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:13,719
it made less sense at the time,
325
00:19:14,219 --> 00:19:18,257
was that it would be better
to simply not fly the things
326
00:19:18,757 --> 00:19:21,260
than to take
an unacceptable level of risk.
327
00:19:23,795 --> 00:19:25,531
Four months before launch,
328
00:19:25,831 --> 00:19:29,034
the rovers moved toKennedy Space Center in Florida.
329
00:19:31,003 --> 00:19:33,305
Everything changedwhen we got to Florida.
330
00:19:34,273 --> 00:19:38,043
There's this do or die senseabout what you're doing.
331
00:19:40,078 --> 00:19:42,014
When we put the rovers togetherwe put 'em together
332
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:43,849
and took 'em apart multiple times.
333
00:19:44,883 --> 00:19:47,219
When you get to Floridayou put it all together for the last time.
334
00:19:47,286 --> 00:19:49,621
And every fastenerthat gets torqued down,
335
00:19:49,688 --> 00:19:52,791
every connectorthat gets mated, that's it.
336
00:19:53,258 --> 00:19:56,028
And you do that,
even that simple task wrong
337
00:19:56,094 --> 00:19:59,464
and you got a problem when you get to Mars
that you can never fix.
338
00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:03,068
Spirit was set to launch first,
339
00:20:03,702 --> 00:20:05,337
but with just a few weeks to go,
340
00:20:05,404 --> 00:20:06,505
they hit a snag.
341
00:20:07,206 --> 00:20:10,409
You knew something
was gonna be the last big problem.
342
00:20:10,475 --> 00:20:11,677
You don't know what it's gonna be.
343
00:20:11,743 --> 00:20:13,879
But our last big problem
was a real big one.
344
00:20:16,248 --> 00:20:17,883
NARRATOR:
It involved the electrical circuits
345
00:20:17,950 --> 00:20:19,351
that trigger pyros,
346
00:20:19,685 --> 00:20:23,155
the explosive fasteners that releasedozens of secured parts
347
00:20:23,222 --> 00:20:25,157
during and after landing.
348
00:20:26,925 --> 00:20:29,494
The circuits had all been testedwith live pyros,
349
00:20:29,795 --> 00:20:33,465
but late in the game they discoveredthat the next time they tried to use them,
350
00:20:33,532 --> 00:20:35,867
on Mars, they might not work.
351
00:20:37,669 --> 00:20:40,806
It turns out that the waythe electronics were designed
352
00:20:40,872 --> 00:20:42,274
there was a chance
353
00:20:42,808 --> 00:20:47,613
that some of these tests
would have irreparably damaged
354
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,015
components inside the rover.
355
00:20:51,316 --> 00:20:54,419
And the problem was
our schedule was now so tight,
356
00:20:54,486 --> 00:20:55,821
we were so close to the end
357
00:20:55,887 --> 00:20:57,856
we couldn't even get inside the rover
358
00:20:57,923 --> 00:20:59,958
to see if those components
were okay or not.
359
00:21:01,260 --> 00:21:03,562
The rover is readyto go to the launch pad.
360
00:21:03,629 --> 00:21:05,764
It would take weeksto take the thing apart.
361
00:21:06,164 --> 00:21:08,000
And it would blow our schedule.We wouldn't be able to launch.
362
00:21:10,035 --> 00:21:10,969
This could threaten the whole mission.
363
00:21:11,036 --> 00:21:12,371
I mean, these things could...
364
00:21:12,437 --> 00:21:15,007
The rovers could end up
in the Air and Space Museum over this.
365
00:21:15,073 --> 00:21:17,476
Okay, if we're not able
to launch these things now
366
00:21:17,843 --> 00:21:19,278
it may not make sense to ever fly them.
367
00:21:21,546 --> 00:21:23,515
NARRATOR:
The only way to tell if any tests
368
00:21:23,582 --> 00:21:25,117
had damaged the rovers
369
00:21:25,183 --> 00:21:27,319
was to find all the pyros ever fired
370
00:21:27,919 --> 00:21:29,588
and check them for short circuits.
371
00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:34,893
And so there wasthis treasure hunt,
372
00:21:35,494 --> 00:21:38,830
and people were going in bags and shelvesand pulling things apart,
373
00:21:40,032 --> 00:21:42,134
and gradually piece by piecethey were found,
374
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,670
the last one, the critical onethat we needed to prove
375
00:21:44,736 --> 00:21:47,673
that we were really okaywas found yesterday.
376
00:21:48,407 --> 00:21:51,610
You know, three days before launch
and we're still sweating these resistors.
377
00:21:51,677 --> 00:21:54,513
It was, it was awful.
378
00:21:56,014 --> 00:21:57,816
The deadline had arrived.
379
00:21:58,517 --> 00:22:00,319
To hit their targets on Mars,
380
00:22:00,385 --> 00:22:03,522
each rover would have tolaunch in its own three-week window,
381
00:22:03,822 --> 00:22:05,157
one after the other.
382
00:22:05,924 --> 00:22:08,960
And if we didn't get offin that three-week stretch of time
383
00:22:09,361 --> 00:22:11,863
we weren't gonna have a chanceto launch again for 26 months.
384
00:22:12,331 --> 00:22:14,666
So we had to launch
in that launch window.
385
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,603
They'd get two chances each dayover a span of 40 minutes,
386
00:22:19,204 --> 00:22:21,707
and anything from weatherto rocket problems
387
00:22:21,773 --> 00:22:24,476
could force them to scruband lose a day of the window.
388
00:22:27,446 --> 00:22:31,283
After five days of bad weather,Spirit was ready to go.
389
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,358
A very, very, very large fractionof launches succeed.
390
00:22:40,525 --> 00:22:42,194
But the success rate is not 100 percent
391
00:22:43,128 --> 00:22:45,163
and there's a chancethat you're gonna have a bad day
392
00:22:45,230 --> 00:22:48,333
and everything that you worked for
just, poof, it's gone.
393
00:22:49,368 --> 00:22:50,335
Whoo!
394
00:22:51,737 --> 00:22:54,806
Everyone's excited,everyone's hot and sweaty.
395
00:22:54,873 --> 00:22:56,241
Um, everyone's a little nervous.
396
00:22:57,409 --> 00:23:00,312
NSC reportsspacecraft go, spacecraft is go.
397
00:23:00,379 --> 00:23:02,013
-MAN : 20 seconds.
-BOY : 20 seconds.
398
00:23:02,748 --> 00:23:05,550
And there's this momentwhere you realize, that's it.
399
00:23:06,251 --> 00:23:09,521
You know pencils down,
it's over, it's going to Mars.
400
00:23:09,588 --> 00:23:12,924
MAN :
Nine, eight, seven, six, greenboard.
401
00:23:12,991 --> 00:23:17,396
Five, four, three, two, one.
402
00:23:17,462 --> 00:23:21,500
Engines start,and lift off of the Delta II rocket
403
00:23:21,566 --> 00:23:24,903
carrying the Spirit from Earthto planet Mars.
404
00:23:28,306 --> 00:23:30,208
...vehicles responding.
405
00:23:30,742 --> 00:23:32,944
Yeah!
406
00:23:33,945 --> 00:23:35,013
Get going!
407
00:23:37,315 --> 00:23:38,617
Beautiful!
408
00:23:38,683 --> 00:23:41,219
Come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
409
00:23:41,286 --> 00:23:42,320
Keep going.
410
00:23:42,387 --> 00:23:43,455
Come on, man.
411
00:23:46,024 --> 00:23:47,826
MAN :
We're approaching Mach 1,
412
00:23:48,326 --> 00:23:50,862
we've exceed supersonic speed
413
00:23:50,929 --> 00:23:52,631
and the engine positions look good.
414
00:23:53,165 --> 00:23:54,199
Awesome!
415
00:23:55,066 --> 00:23:56,768
-Cha-ching!
-MAN Cha-ching.
416
00:23:57,402 --> 00:23:59,137
MAN :
Onboard video system working perfectly
417
00:23:59,204 --> 00:24:01,540
sending back an immaculate image.
418
00:24:01,606 --> 00:24:05,243
We're now passing an altitudeof four nautical miles
419
00:24:05,310 --> 00:24:07,012
with a downrange distance 15.
420
00:24:10,916 --> 00:24:12,451
CLCDR, LZ...
421
00:24:12,517 --> 00:24:14,352
Opportunity was up next.
422
00:24:14,953 --> 00:24:18,457
A series of problems with the rockethad eaten up most of the launch window,
423
00:24:19,257 --> 00:24:21,359
and it was close to now or never.
424
00:24:22,828 --> 00:24:23,862
This is it.
425
00:24:25,497 --> 00:24:27,699
It was night, we're out on the beach.
426
00:24:27,766 --> 00:24:29,100
We're ready to go.
427
00:24:29,167 --> 00:24:30,969
-...20 seconds.
-STEVE: 20 seconds!
428
00:24:31,036 --> 00:24:32,804
We get into the final count...
429
00:24:33,104 --> 00:24:34,439
T-minus ten, nine...
430
00:24:34,506 --> 00:24:37,776
You know, you're into
the ten, nine, eight, seven part of it
431
00:24:38,243 --> 00:24:39,678
and you're just about to go
432
00:24:39,744 --> 00:24:42,614
and at seven seconds to go
they called a hold.
433
00:24:42,681 --> 00:24:44,216
MAN 1 :
We're going into recycle.
434
00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:46,585
MAN 2 :
And the clock is stopped.
435
00:24:46,918 --> 00:24:49,888
They halted the countdownseven seconds before liftoff
436
00:24:49,955 --> 00:24:53,992
because of a problem with the rocket,
and then you can't go.
437
00:24:54,926 --> 00:24:56,294
Seven seconds!
438
00:24:58,029 --> 00:25:02,634
You know, this thingis a bomb poised to explode.
439
00:25:02,701 --> 00:25:05,504
And as soon as they scrubbed
at T-minus seven seconds
440
00:25:05,570 --> 00:25:06,705
I thought, "Oh, man, that's it."
441
00:25:06,771 --> 00:25:08,106
MAN :
NSC reports spacecraft go.
442
00:25:08,173 --> 00:25:10,075
-But they managed to pull it back.
-Spacecraft is go.
443
00:25:10,141 --> 00:25:12,677
And 40 minutes later, off we went.
444
00:25:19,050 --> 00:25:20,485
MAN :
Engine position looks good,
445
00:25:20,552 --> 00:25:23,088
recovering nicelyfrom the liftoff transients.
446
00:25:23,154 --> 00:25:24,623
It was justemotionally overwhelming
447
00:25:24,689 --> 00:25:26,591
in a way that I never anticipated.
448
00:25:26,658 --> 00:25:27,792
MAN :
And the solid rocket motors
449
00:25:27,859 --> 00:25:29,027
are increasing their thrust.
450
00:25:29,094 --> 00:25:31,263
We had put so muchof ourselves into those things.
451
00:25:32,564 --> 00:25:33,932
For so many years.
452
00:25:34,566 --> 00:25:39,738
And then you put it on top of a rocketand you launch it and it is gone.
453
00:25:40,472 --> 00:25:42,507
Main enginechamber pressures holding steady,
454
00:25:42,574 --> 00:25:44,809
and the vernier enginesare continuing to burn well.
455
00:25:45,143 --> 00:25:49,581
It's as gone as anything
you've ever done is going to be.
456
00:25:50,248 --> 00:25:52,784
And it sounds strange to say,it felt strange at the time
457
00:25:52,851 --> 00:25:54,686
but it was really hard to say goodbye.
458
00:25:56,187 --> 00:25:57,889
MAN :
And we're now past Mach 1,
459
00:25:57,956 --> 00:26:00,559
the vehicle is now travelingfaster than the speed of sound.
460
00:26:06,364 --> 00:26:08,633
NARRATOR:
After a seven-month journey from Earth,
461
00:26:08,700 --> 00:26:11,937
Spirit was about to hitthe top of the Martian atmosphere
462
00:26:12,003 --> 00:26:13,972
at 12,000 miles an hour.
463
00:26:14,706 --> 00:26:17,208
Six minutes laterit would be on the ground.
464
00:26:18,109 --> 00:26:20,145
Flight DirectorJason Willis reporting that
465
00:26:20,211 --> 00:26:22,814
all systems are go for entry,descent and landing.
466
00:26:22,881 --> 00:26:23,915
We're currently...
467
00:26:23,982 --> 00:26:26,985
With a radio delayof almost ten minutes each way,
468
00:26:27,052 --> 00:26:28,853
there could be no help from Earth.
469
00:26:30,188 --> 00:26:32,991
Each step was preprogrammedin Spirit's computer.
470
00:26:34,426 --> 00:26:38,096
Landing on Mars,there really is nothing you can do.
471
00:26:38,430 --> 00:26:39,731
You know, they call it the control room
472
00:26:39,798 --> 00:26:41,499
but the one thing we don't have
is any control.
473
00:26:43,668 --> 00:26:45,837
The EDL teamwas about to find out
474
00:26:45,904 --> 00:26:49,641
whether the system that worked on Earthwould work on Mars.
475
00:26:50,075 --> 00:26:53,411
You can't fully testthe landing system here on Earth.
476
00:26:53,478 --> 00:26:57,148
It's all been analysis, pen and paper,computer simulations.
477
00:26:57,215 --> 00:26:58,483
Piece-part tests.
478
00:26:58,917 --> 00:27:01,386
But you string it all together only once
479
00:27:02,354 --> 00:27:04,623
in the skies above Mars.
480
00:27:05,190 --> 00:27:09,194
There were many things that couldkill us in the process of landing.
481
00:27:10,028 --> 00:27:12,631
A gust of wind at the wrong moment,
a sharp pointy rock.
482
00:27:12,697 --> 00:27:16,568
You can do everything right
and Mars can still kill you.
483
00:27:18,903 --> 00:27:22,273
MAN :
...entry. Five, four, three...
484
00:27:22,340 --> 00:27:25,310
And so as we go we're lookingfor certain signs from the spacecraft.
485
00:27:25,944 --> 00:27:28,079
The vehicle has nowhit the top of the Martian atmosphere.
486
00:27:29,514 --> 00:27:31,650
We are now at an altitude of 73 miles
487
00:27:32,017 --> 00:27:34,819
moving at a speed of12,192 miles per hour.
488
00:27:34,886 --> 00:27:36,388
You're following what's happening.
489
00:27:36,454 --> 00:27:37,622
You're hoping you got it all right.
490
00:27:37,689 --> 00:27:38,823
You're hoping it's all gonna work.
491
00:27:40,892 --> 00:27:41,793
Parachute deployed.
492
00:27:45,397 --> 00:27:47,399
You get signals from the spacecraft
493
00:27:47,465 --> 00:27:50,001
that it's executing all of its functions
494
00:27:50,068 --> 00:27:52,871
all the way down to impacting the surface.
495
00:28:01,813 --> 00:28:04,616
Signal indicateswe are bouncing on the surface of Mars.
496
00:28:04,683 --> 00:28:06,584
-This is a very good sign.
497
00:28:07,585 --> 00:28:08,720
We saw a radio signal.
498
00:28:09,421 --> 00:28:10,989
The thing was bouncing on the surface.
499
00:28:11,256 --> 00:28:12,624
MAN :
Hang on, everybody, please be quiet.
500
00:28:13,058 --> 00:28:14,726
We don't see a signal at the moment.
501
00:28:16,194 --> 00:28:17,262
No signal at the moment.
502
00:28:17,328 --> 00:28:18,563
But then it went silent.
503
00:28:19,631 --> 00:28:21,433
MAN :
Please stand by, stand by.
504
00:28:23,835 --> 00:28:25,303
There wasa significant stretch of time
505
00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:27,272
in which there was no signalfrom the vehicle.
506
00:28:27,839 --> 00:28:29,274
Deep Space Networktracking stations
507
00:28:29,340 --> 00:28:31,476
are still searchingfor the primary signal.
508
00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:34,345
That was a very,very tense period.
509
00:28:36,948 --> 00:28:37,882
And we wait...
510
00:28:39,117 --> 00:28:41,286
as if the spacecraft's dead.
511
00:28:42,654 --> 00:28:43,822
And then we get the signal.
512
00:28:44,422 --> 00:28:46,524
And the room erupts.
513
00:28:48,293 --> 00:28:49,694
It actually worked.
514
00:29:00,338 --> 00:29:03,174
In a few hourspictures started coming down.
515
00:29:03,241 --> 00:29:04,409
Oh, wow, look at that!
516
00:29:04,476 --> 00:29:07,011
NARRATOR:
Spirit was an international celebrity.
517
00:29:07,078 --> 00:29:08,813
Ohh, yes!
518
00:29:09,514 --> 00:29:11,983
Opportunity would bearriving in three weeks.
519
00:29:12,450 --> 00:29:15,854
And for a while,everything was perfect on Mars.
520
00:29:18,523 --> 00:29:20,959
Everything worked,
everything worked.
521
00:29:22,193 --> 00:29:26,431
All the hardware worked,all our operations processes worked.
522
00:29:27,665 --> 00:29:29,701
The rover did what we asked it to do.
523
00:29:30,802 --> 00:29:32,203
Everything's going great
524
00:29:32,270 --> 00:29:37,041
and then 18 days into the mission
it all just stopped.
525
00:29:37,108 --> 00:29:39,277
I'm not seeinganything from our displays.
526
00:29:39,344 --> 00:29:41,279
You're not seeing
any signal at this time?
527
00:29:42,247 --> 00:29:43,448
MAN :
That's a negative.
528
00:29:44,516 --> 00:29:45,550
Uh, copy that.
529
00:29:45,617 --> 00:29:46,718
Let's look for it still.
530
00:29:48,019 --> 00:29:50,355
18 days in, silence.
531
00:29:51,022 --> 00:29:52,423
Nothing from the vehicle.
532
00:29:52,757 --> 00:29:56,361
Not a clue about what had happened,
just silence.
533
00:29:56,961 --> 00:29:57,829
So we got a problem.
534
00:29:58,797 --> 00:30:02,567
Normally, Spirit would talkto JPL through the Deep Space Network,
535
00:30:02,634 --> 00:30:03,935
once or twice a day.
536
00:30:04,903 --> 00:30:06,538
Instructions went up from Earth,
537
00:30:07,438 --> 00:30:09,574
and data came back from Mars,
538
00:30:10,475 --> 00:30:11,643
until it stopped...
539
00:30:12,911 --> 00:30:15,713
for two long days, and then...
540
00:30:15,780 --> 00:30:17,448
Flight, station reported
541
00:30:17,515 --> 00:30:19,651
that they're seeing signal at 1-4...
542
00:30:19,717 --> 00:30:21,686
A few garbled signalsfrom Spirit.
543
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,290
The first cluesto what might be going on.
544
00:30:26,391 --> 00:30:29,861
What became clearover a period of a day or two
545
00:30:30,395 --> 00:30:34,132
was that for unknown reasons,
546
00:30:34,699 --> 00:30:38,369
the computer onboard
was crashing and rebooting
547
00:30:38,636 --> 00:30:40,872
over and over and over and over again.
548
00:30:40,939 --> 00:30:42,841
And it was doing it through the night.
549
00:30:43,675 --> 00:30:45,076
Which means the computer is coming up
550
00:30:45,143 --> 00:30:47,045
and it's sucking powerout of the batteries.
551
00:30:47,712 --> 00:30:49,747
At night you got no sunon the solar arrays
552
00:30:49,814 --> 00:30:51,282
you're just pulling the battery down.
553
00:30:51,916 --> 00:30:54,118
And you can only survive thatfor a few days
554
00:30:54,185 --> 00:30:55,587
before the vehicle is done.
555
00:30:56,454 --> 00:30:58,089
And so we were in a death spiral.
556
00:31:02,827 --> 00:31:06,464
Bad news was comingfrom all directions at JPL that night.
557
00:31:07,498 --> 00:31:09,968
Spirit was not the only one in danger.
558
00:31:13,972 --> 00:31:16,374
With Opportunity still a few days away,
559
00:31:16,441 --> 00:31:20,078
the EDL team had been poring over datafrom Spirit's landing
560
00:31:20,411 --> 00:31:22,647
to see if everythinghad gone according to plan.
561
00:31:23,615 --> 00:31:25,183
We saw somethingwe didn't expect.
562
00:31:26,251 --> 00:31:27,619
We saw something wrong.
563
00:31:30,922 --> 00:31:34,859
The lander had taken longerthan expected to descend on its bridle.
564
00:31:37,195 --> 00:31:41,266
Spirit got away with it,but Opportunity might not be as lucky.
565
00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:44,502
This is obviously something
that'll have to be investigated
566
00:31:44,569 --> 00:31:46,704
to determine what has happened here.
567
00:31:47,372 --> 00:31:51,743
We were workingliterally full team, 24/7
568
00:31:52,076 --> 00:31:53,845
doing tests in the vacuum chamber
569
00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:55,947
trying to understand what had happened.
570
00:31:56,948 --> 00:31:58,449
In the end we couldn't.
571
00:31:58,516 --> 00:32:00,885
The buzzer went off
and we ran out of time.
572
00:32:01,719 --> 00:32:03,888
All they could dowas open the chute a bit earlier
573
00:32:04,222 --> 00:32:06,891
to buy some extra time on the way down.
574
00:32:08,826 --> 00:32:12,664
That would mean inflating it higher up,at higher velocity,
575
00:32:13,097 --> 00:32:15,433
putting even more stresson the parachute.
576
00:32:16,801 --> 00:32:18,603
We're talking 48 hours
before landing
577
00:32:18,670 --> 00:32:21,773
about changing the parachute
deployment parameters,
578
00:32:22,573 --> 00:32:23,975
so we'll deploy high enough
579
00:32:24,042 --> 00:32:25,810
that we won't smack
into the ground too hard.
580
00:32:26,277 --> 00:32:27,845
Um, that was a little nerve-wracking.
581
00:32:28,379 --> 00:32:31,049
I have to admit,
I did not sleep very well last night,
582
00:32:31,115 --> 00:32:33,418
uh, because this is exactly
what's going on in my mind,
583
00:32:33,484 --> 00:32:36,387
you know, how can we have, what if
we have two disasters on our hands?
584
00:32:36,454 --> 00:32:38,523
I mean, all this,
all this wonderful excitement
585
00:32:38,589 --> 00:32:40,224
and suddenly we would lose everything.
586
00:32:41,659 --> 00:32:44,295
They uplinkednew instructions to Opportunity,
587
00:32:44,362 --> 00:32:46,631
now less than 24 hours away,
588
00:32:47,332 --> 00:32:48,733
and hoped for the best.
589
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,069
We're thinkingthere's a problem with the software.
590
00:32:51,903 --> 00:32:55,273
In mission control,they had finally detected a pattern
591
00:32:55,340 --> 00:32:57,375
in the signals coming down from Spirit.
592
00:32:59,043 --> 00:33:02,246
The rover is sending usonly real time data.
593
00:33:02,313 --> 00:33:05,883
In other words, it's telling us
this is what's happening to me now.
594
00:33:05,950 --> 00:33:07,418
This is what's happening to me now.
595
00:33:07,485 --> 00:33:08,753
This is what's happening to me now.
596
00:33:08,820 --> 00:33:12,623
It's telling us nothing
about what had happened before.
597
00:33:14,592 --> 00:33:16,361
A bug in the memory software
598
00:33:16,427 --> 00:33:19,030
could be forcing Spiritinto this endless cycle
599
00:33:19,097 --> 00:33:20,631
of crashing and rebooting.
600
00:33:23,134 --> 00:33:27,105
So they came up with a commandthat would bypass the memory altogether.
601
00:33:28,606 --> 00:33:29,741
DIRECTOR :
Flight, Mission, you're go.
602
00:33:29,807 --> 00:33:30,842
CONTROLLER:
Copy your go, Mission,
603
00:33:30,908 --> 00:33:31,909
ACE you're clear to command.
604
00:33:31,976 --> 00:33:33,911
Copy, Flight, radiation on my mark.
605
00:33:33,978 --> 00:33:36,080
Three, two, one, mark.
606
00:33:37,115 --> 00:33:38,583
This was a guess.
607
00:33:39,150 --> 00:33:41,919
This was an inspired guessand nothing more.
608
00:33:41,986 --> 00:33:43,354
Maybe this will help.
609
00:33:44,889 --> 00:33:48,159
Flight ACE,we have locked on telemetry, 1-4-5-4-1-4.
610
00:33:48,226 --> 00:33:49,127
And it worked.
611
00:33:49,193 --> 00:33:50,061
Copy that.
612
00:33:53,731 --> 00:33:56,434
Like a well-oiled machine,
isn't it?
613
00:33:56,501 --> 00:34:00,004
With a software patch,Spirit would soon be back to normal.
614
00:34:00,071 --> 00:34:01,706
We have partial control
of the vehicle.
615
00:34:03,207 --> 00:34:05,676
We have got a way
of talking to the vehicle now
616
00:34:05,743 --> 00:34:08,212
so that it responds appropriately.
617
00:34:08,813 --> 00:34:10,415
It has regained its sanity.
618
00:34:10,982 --> 00:34:11,983
And that's a good feeling.
619
00:34:15,686 --> 00:34:19,357
Now it wasOpportunity's moment of truth.
620
00:34:21,459 --> 00:34:24,595
We start clickingthrough the events,
621
00:34:26,464 --> 00:34:27,765
touching the top of the atmosphere,
622
00:34:29,667 --> 00:34:31,002
opening up our parachute...
623
00:34:34,539 --> 00:34:37,875
...all the way down to the surface.
624
00:34:44,248 --> 00:34:46,217
We don't hear from the spacecraft...
625
00:34:49,554 --> 00:34:51,155
and then we do.
626
00:35:12,376 --> 00:35:13,311
To EDL!
627
00:35:19,784 --> 00:35:22,920
I would like it very much
much if we could go together,
628
00:35:23,888 --> 00:35:25,256
to the press conference.
629
00:35:25,323 --> 00:35:28,326
For Spirit the first landing
630
00:35:29,227 --> 00:35:32,130
when the team had gone downto watch the press conference
631
00:35:32,196 --> 00:35:35,766
we'd been barred
because it was at full capacity.
632
00:35:36,501 --> 00:35:38,169
This time I said, "No...
633
00:35:40,004 --> 00:35:41,772
we're gonna go down together."
634
00:35:43,875 --> 00:35:46,844
We got to the theaterand there were security
635
00:35:48,279 --> 00:35:50,248
and they said,"I'm sorry, can't let you in."
636
00:35:50,314 --> 00:35:51,482
You can't come in.
637
00:35:52,850 --> 00:35:55,686
I said, "I'm sorry,"and we just walked in.
638
00:36:07,999 --> 00:36:09,167
EDL!
639
00:36:09,433 --> 00:36:13,237
EDL! EDL! EDL!
640
00:36:13,671 --> 00:36:17,742
EDL! EDL! EDL!
641
00:36:22,980 --> 00:36:24,982
To the Mars Exploration Rover team,
642
00:36:25,049 --> 00:36:26,984
the best in the world, no doubt about it.
643
00:36:42,033 --> 00:36:45,169
Spirit and Opportunitywere finally on Mars,
644
00:36:45,803 --> 00:36:47,872
but now they had to produce.
645
00:36:50,841 --> 00:36:55,713
The mission plan was for just90 sols, 90 Martian days.
646
00:36:57,381 --> 00:37:00,084
Dust on the solar panelswas the biggest threat,
647
00:37:00,618 --> 00:37:03,387
but there are many ways to die on Mars.
648
00:37:03,788 --> 00:37:06,290
You never know when these thingsare gonna drop dead.
649
00:37:06,357 --> 00:37:07,758
You know, they could die tomorrow.
650
00:37:07,825 --> 00:37:09,427
They could be dead right now
651
00:37:09,493 --> 00:37:11,495
and we just haven't gotten
the downlink that shows it yet.
652
00:37:12,830 --> 00:37:14,432
Very nice from the looks of it.
653
00:37:15,399 --> 00:37:17,868
The rover teamsat JPL approached
654
00:37:17,935 --> 00:37:20,605
each sol as if it might be the last.
655
00:37:23,441 --> 00:37:25,743
We were impressedvery early with the idea
656
00:37:25,810 --> 00:37:28,479
that the rovers wereunder a death sentence.
657
00:37:29,046 --> 00:37:31,949
We knew that there was a kindof clock that was counting down,
658
00:37:32,016 --> 00:37:34,185
and that at the end of 90 sols,
like that was all the time
659
00:37:34,252 --> 00:37:35,920
that we could count on
that we were gonna get.
660
00:37:35,987 --> 00:37:37,188
And we didn't even know
if we'd get all that.
661
00:37:39,156 --> 00:37:40,524
The objective was to learn
662
00:37:40,591 --> 00:37:44,328
whether Mars ever hadthe water necessary for life.
663
00:37:46,163 --> 00:37:48,966
It's been a frozen desertfor billions of years,
664
00:37:49,367 --> 00:37:50,801
but the surface is scarred
665
00:37:50,868 --> 00:37:53,237
with ancient river channels and deltas.
666
00:37:54,572 --> 00:37:57,675
What was it likebillions of years ago?
667
00:37:58,809 --> 00:38:00,378
How much water was there?
668
00:38:01,078 --> 00:38:02,313
What was its chemistry?
669
00:38:03,781 --> 00:38:07,084
Suppose you were a microbe,
would you have liked that place or not?
670
00:38:07,151 --> 00:38:08,019
If so, why?
671
00:38:09,787 --> 00:38:12,089
NARRATOR:
They sent Spirit to Gusev Crater
672
00:38:12,156 --> 00:38:13,557
in the southern hemisphere
673
00:38:13,624 --> 00:38:15,793
because it looked likea dried up lake bed,
674
00:38:16,327 --> 00:38:19,030
and they hoped to find evidencein the rocks to prove it.
675
00:38:22,166 --> 00:38:25,936
On the ground, though,there was nothing but volcanic rubble.
676
00:38:27,905 --> 00:38:31,042
I wouldn't have wantedto admit it at the time,
677
00:38:32,009 --> 00:38:35,980
but the Spirit landing site
initially was a crushing disappointment.
678
00:38:36,914 --> 00:38:40,284
We went there looking forlayered sedimentary rocks
679
00:38:40,351 --> 00:38:42,920
laid down billions of years agoin a Martian lake
680
00:38:42,987 --> 00:38:46,157
and instead we got lavaas far as the eye could see.
681
00:38:46,490 --> 00:38:49,460
And every damn rock
was like every other damn rock.
682
00:38:49,527 --> 00:38:51,295
They were just all the same.
683
00:38:53,097 --> 00:38:55,366
And the thought was,"Well, we can go to an impact crater."
684
00:38:55,433 --> 00:38:57,968
And the impact will havepunched through the lava
685
00:38:58,035 --> 00:39:00,037
and down into the good stuffthat lies underneath.
686
00:39:00,104 --> 00:39:02,606
And we spent 60 solsdriving to an impact crater
687
00:39:02,673 --> 00:39:04,742
and we look inside and it's full of lava.
688
00:39:07,411 --> 00:39:10,548
We hoped for somethinga little more spectacular than this.
689
00:39:10,981 --> 00:39:14,385
I'm gonna be surprised if we decide
to drive down into the crater.
690
00:39:14,452 --> 00:39:16,020
We might, but I don't know.
691
00:39:18,689 --> 00:39:20,991
It really wasa bitter disappointment.
692
00:39:21,359 --> 00:39:25,396
And, uh, the Spirit team
got a little disheartened after a while.
693
00:39:27,465 --> 00:39:29,700
NARRATOR:
Opportunity got off to a better start,
694
00:39:30,901 --> 00:39:35,039
touching down near the equatorin a place called Meridiani Planum,
695
00:39:36,307 --> 00:39:38,175
bouncing for a quarter mile,
696
00:39:38,676 --> 00:39:42,380
and scoringan interplanetary hole-in-one.
697
00:39:46,851 --> 00:39:49,987
At JPL they waitedfor the first pictures.
698
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:03,734
Look at this!
699
00:40:05,870 --> 00:40:10,808
We open our eyes and there's thisastounding outcrop of layered bedrock
700
00:40:10,875 --> 00:40:12,143
right in front of the vehicle.
701
00:40:13,744 --> 00:40:18,215
That outcrop in the distance
is just is out of this world.
702
00:40:19,083 --> 00:40:20,284
I can't wait to get there.
703
00:40:24,588 --> 00:40:27,658
It was like nothinganyone had ever seen.
704
00:40:28,359 --> 00:40:30,461
Everybody had their ideaof what Mars looked like,
705
00:40:30,995 --> 00:40:34,565
and it's like, "What the hell is that?"
706
00:40:35,499 --> 00:40:37,268
It was just alien.
707
00:40:39,503 --> 00:40:42,106
This is an unusual Martian rock,
708
00:40:42,173 --> 00:40:44,008
at least compared to
what we've seen everywhere else.
709
00:40:44,775 --> 00:40:46,544
The fact that these rocks are layered
710
00:40:46,610 --> 00:40:50,080
says that one possible origin for these
711
00:40:50,147 --> 00:40:53,017
is that they were laid down
in liquid water.
712
00:40:53,818 --> 00:40:57,955
We do not know what's going on here,
but the beauty of it is,
713
00:40:58,022 --> 00:41:02,159
we have preserved in front of us
a record that will answer that,
714
00:41:02,226 --> 00:41:03,727
and we have on our rover
715
00:41:03,794 --> 00:41:07,364
a toolkit of gizmos
that will tell us that answer.
716
00:41:11,635 --> 00:41:16,006
The rovers carry the toolkitof a high-tech field geologist.
717
00:41:19,043 --> 00:41:21,278
There's a suite of instrumentson the end of the arm
718
00:41:21,345 --> 00:41:23,614
to identify rocks and minerals.
719
00:41:27,985 --> 00:41:32,890
They see the world in three dimensionswith four pairs of stereo cameras.
720
00:41:34,358 --> 00:41:37,194
There's a high-resolution camerafor color panoramas,
721
00:41:37,261 --> 00:41:39,463
stitched togetherfrom individual frames.
722
00:41:42,299 --> 00:41:45,703
Filters enhance detailsinvisible to human eyes,
723
00:41:47,905 --> 00:41:51,842
and a spectrometer scans for mineralsthat may have formed in water.
724
00:41:55,145 --> 00:41:58,916
They have black and white stereovisionfor navigation and planning.
725
00:42:00,885 --> 00:42:04,955
And below the deck, fisheye camerassee Mars at ground level,
726
00:42:05,256 --> 00:42:07,391
looking backward and forward.
727
00:42:08,692 --> 00:42:13,697
Opportunity headed for the outcrop,and soon made some startling discoveries.
728
00:42:15,165 --> 00:42:17,635
It was like being inside
729
00:42:17,701 --> 00:42:20,971
this bizarre Martian mystery novel,
730
00:42:21,372 --> 00:42:24,909
where every sol or two you get
a new clue handed to you.
731
00:42:27,177 --> 00:42:30,414
NARRATOR: First, tiny spheresthe size of BB's,
732
00:42:30,848 --> 00:42:34,785
littering the ground and embeddedin the rock like blueberries in a muffin.
733
00:42:36,887 --> 00:42:38,122
It was such a surprise.
734
00:42:38,188 --> 00:42:39,857
I mean, what the heckwere those things?
735
00:42:41,358 --> 00:42:43,193
NARRATOR:
They turned out to be hematite,
736
00:42:43,994 --> 00:42:47,498
the mineral seen from orbitthat drew them here in the first place.
737
00:42:47,965 --> 00:42:52,136
On Earth it forms spheres like thesein water-soaked rocks.
738
00:42:55,639 --> 00:43:00,344
Then they found sulfur-rich mineralsthat can only form in contact with water.
739
00:43:04,548 --> 00:43:08,686
And finally, petrified ripplescreated by flowing water,
740
00:43:09,053 --> 00:43:11,989
frozen in time as sand turned to stone.
741
00:43:15,426 --> 00:43:18,529
It all pointed to a timebillions of years ago
742
00:43:18,862 --> 00:43:21,932
when water, actually, sulfuric acid,
743
00:43:21,999 --> 00:43:25,769
soaked the ground and sometimesflowed across the surface.
744
00:43:27,438 --> 00:43:29,273
It was a new Mars.
745
00:43:30,541 --> 00:43:33,110
There wasn't a single one of us
who expected what we found.
746
00:43:33,177 --> 00:43:34,612
Anybody who tells you so is lying.
747
00:43:35,879 --> 00:43:37,915
Almost everything was a surprise.
748
00:43:37,982 --> 00:43:40,250
We were giddy, we were incredulous.
749
00:43:40,317 --> 00:43:43,654
We were sleep-deprived beyond words.
750
00:43:43,721 --> 00:43:45,756
It was so tiring.
751
00:43:46,256 --> 00:43:47,891
But we were justrunning on adrenaline.
752
00:43:48,192 --> 00:43:50,894
And it was just so much fun.
753
00:43:51,295 --> 00:43:55,032
It was the most fun I've ever had
as a scientist, it was just fabulous.
754
00:43:58,469 --> 00:44:00,938
Opportunity's teamdeclared victory
755
00:44:01,005 --> 00:44:03,674
and moved on to a new target nearby,
756
00:44:04,274 --> 00:44:08,912
while Spirit was still maroonedin the wasteland of Gusev Crater.
757
00:44:10,347 --> 00:44:11,915
They were ondifferent sides of the planet.
758
00:44:11,982 --> 00:44:13,384
They were two very different sites
759
00:44:13,450 --> 00:44:15,519
and they had twoincredibly different experiences.
760
00:44:16,286 --> 00:44:18,055
It was tough on the Spirit guys.
761
00:44:18,122 --> 00:44:21,659
And for a long time the Opportunity teamwas the happy team
762
00:44:21,725 --> 00:44:23,661
and the Spirit team was not so happy.
763
00:44:24,128 --> 00:44:26,230
You know, I'd tell 'em,
"Well, you switch to Opportunity."
764
00:44:26,296 --> 00:44:28,232
And they'd say,
"No, no, I'm not gonna."
765
00:44:28,932 --> 00:44:33,837
Because they had gotten
their heart set on Spirit succeeding.
766
00:44:34,872 --> 00:44:37,841
Opportunity wascertainly the lucky rover.
767
00:44:38,108 --> 00:44:41,445
But for me I worked on Spirit,
and Spirit is my favorite rover,
768
00:44:41,512 --> 00:44:44,248
because Spirit had to work
for everything she ever got in her life.
769
00:44:47,551 --> 00:44:50,054
Squyres knewthat Spirit had to move,
770
00:44:50,387 --> 00:44:51,755
and the hills on the horizon
771
00:44:51,822 --> 00:44:54,391
looked like the only chanceto salvage the mission.
772
00:44:56,060 --> 00:44:58,095
The Columbia Hills aretwo and a half kilometers away.
773
00:44:58,162 --> 00:45:01,231
The vehicle was designed to go600 meters over its lifetime.
774
00:45:03,100 --> 00:45:06,437
Okay? That's four times
the designed requirement.
775
00:45:07,071 --> 00:45:08,839
That's a long, long distance.
776
00:45:08,906 --> 00:45:10,541
We didn't know
if the vehicle could do it.
777
00:45:11,308 --> 00:45:13,177
NARRATOR:
The engineers were skeptical.
778
00:45:13,510 --> 00:45:16,013
I remember he said that.This is where we're going.
779
00:45:17,181 --> 00:45:18,982
What do you mean, you're gonna
drive up on those hills?
780
00:45:19,883 --> 00:45:22,052
This is gonna be
a lot more than 90 days.
781
00:45:22,119 --> 00:45:22,986
Good luck.
782
00:45:23,053 --> 00:45:24,688
We're probably gonna die
on the way there.
783
00:45:24,955 --> 00:45:26,256
He said, "No, we're gonna go."
784
00:45:26,323 --> 00:45:30,160
I said, "Okay. You're driving.
You've got the keys. Good luck."
785
00:45:32,863 --> 00:45:34,932
We're 100 solsinto our 90-sol mission.
786
00:45:35,532 --> 00:45:37,067
The warranty has expired.
787
00:45:37,668 --> 00:45:41,505
Our only chanceof getting to something new
788
00:45:41,572 --> 00:45:43,073
was to push the vehicle
789
00:45:43,140 --> 00:45:45,809
beyond anything it hadever been designed to handle.
790
00:45:46,677 --> 00:45:49,246
Otherwise it was gonna be
just lava until the end of the mission.
791
00:45:54,551 --> 00:45:56,687
While Spirittrekked to the Columbia Hills,
792
00:45:57,121 --> 00:45:59,923
Opportunity faced a new challenge.
793
00:46:01,024 --> 00:46:02,826
Endurance Craterscared the hell out of me
794
00:46:03,527 --> 00:46:04,728
the first time I saw it.
795
00:46:05,963 --> 00:46:10,067
We pulled up to the lip of that thing,and there were vertical cliffs in places.
796
00:46:10,501 --> 00:46:13,470
You know, it's the kinda place
where if we screwed up,
797
00:46:13,737 --> 00:46:16,173
you know a little rover
could fall off a cliff and die.
798
00:46:18,709 --> 00:46:22,646
But the exposed bedrockdown below was an irresistible target.
799
00:46:23,147 --> 00:46:24,414
Oh, my God!
800
00:46:26,083 --> 00:46:27,618
It's like a whole new mission.
801
00:46:27,684 --> 00:46:32,122
Deeper rocks offer a chanceto look farther back in Martian history.
802
00:46:33,123 --> 00:46:35,793
STEVE:
We didn't bring a drill rig to Mars,
803
00:46:35,859 --> 00:46:39,863
but Mars has dugthese wonderful holes for us
804
00:46:39,930 --> 00:46:41,231
in the form of impact craters,
805
00:46:41,298 --> 00:46:44,134
and they are our windowinto the subsurface.
806
00:46:44,935 --> 00:46:46,136
We all wanted to go in.
807
00:46:46,570 --> 00:46:49,573
I mean, we're standing on the lipof the most magnificent thing
808
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:51,341
anyone's ever seen on Mars,
809
00:46:51,408 --> 00:46:54,144
with a rover that we all believe
in our hearts can do it.
810
00:46:55,679 --> 00:46:59,349
Everybody wanted to go into the crater,but you wanna do it right.
811
00:47:02,319 --> 00:47:04,354
NARRATOR:
Driving in was not the issue.
812
00:47:04,855 --> 00:47:07,591
The question was whetherOpportunity could get back out,
813
00:47:08,091 --> 00:47:10,661
because the roverswere never expected climb.
814
00:47:11,895 --> 00:47:13,997
We never had to test itto its limits before.
815
00:47:14,798 --> 00:47:16,767
All we had to do was
test to the requirements.
816
00:47:17,434 --> 00:47:20,103
We had to convince our management hereand at NASA headquarters
817
00:47:20,170 --> 00:47:23,340
that we weren't gonna damagethis vehicle or get stuck.
818
00:47:24,174 --> 00:47:27,544
I mean, frankly,
if we can't climb pretty reliably
819
00:47:27,978 --> 00:47:30,581
up these rocks at 25 degrees,
820
00:47:31,548 --> 00:47:33,383
we're not going into this crater.
821
00:47:34,384 --> 00:47:37,254
Everybody had toapprove that decision.
822
00:47:38,589 --> 00:47:41,391
If we did screw up, I didn't want somebodypopping out of the woodwork
823
00:47:41,458 --> 00:47:42,893
and saying, "Well, you didn't ask me!"
824
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,162
If you'd have asked me
I would have said you can't go in!"
825
00:47:45,495 --> 00:47:47,931
No, I wanted to make sure
that we were all holding hands
826
00:47:47,998 --> 00:47:49,600
when we jumped off the cliff together.
827
00:47:54,805 --> 00:47:56,940
NARRATOR:
First, they ran some tests.
828
00:48:01,044 --> 00:48:03,380
And in fact,the thing climbed beautifully.
829
00:48:04,181 --> 00:48:08,785
I was stunned by how well this thingcould climb steep, steep slopes,
830
00:48:08,852 --> 00:48:10,120
as long as they were rocky.
831
00:48:10,721 --> 00:48:14,958
30, 32 degrees, boop, boop, boop,
right up it, it was amazing.
832
00:48:16,193 --> 00:48:19,363
In June, 2004,NASA gave the go-ahead
833
00:48:19,429 --> 00:48:21,365
to enter Endurance Crater.
834
00:48:28,205 --> 00:48:31,475
Opportunity's fate was nowin the hands of the drivers,
835
00:48:31,909 --> 00:48:35,145
the privileged few at JPLwho operate the rovers,
836
00:48:35,212 --> 00:48:37,281
translating directionsfrom the scientists
837
00:48:37,881 --> 00:48:40,417
into commands a robot can understand.
838
00:48:42,152 --> 00:48:46,023
They spend their days immersedin a virtual Mars environment
839
00:48:46,089 --> 00:48:48,625
created by the rovers' own cameras.
840
00:48:49,026 --> 00:48:50,727
It's one of the just
amazing things about this,
841
00:48:50,794 --> 00:48:54,197
is the sense that you get of being there.
842
00:48:54,264 --> 00:48:56,700
If you were standing at that spot
on Mars right now,
843
00:48:56,767 --> 00:48:58,035
this is what you would see.
844
00:48:59,002 --> 00:49:02,439
We built a vehicle that hadintentionally human-like capabilities.
845
00:49:02,873 --> 00:49:06,910
They're about the height of a person,they have 20/20 vision,
846
00:49:07,678 --> 00:49:11,748
and you develop an almost tactile sense
847
00:49:11,815 --> 00:49:14,151
of what it's like to touch Mars.
848
00:49:15,552 --> 00:49:19,356
We are no longerworking with a remote robot.
849
00:49:20,924 --> 00:49:22,526
We are immersed inside it.
850
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:26,063
We find ourselves on Mars.
851
00:49:27,731 --> 00:49:29,800
It can takeas long as 20 minutes
852
00:49:29,866 --> 00:49:32,669
for radio signalsfrom Earth to reach Mars,
853
00:49:33,103 --> 00:49:34,905
so they can't be driven in real time.
854
00:49:36,206 --> 00:49:37,741
You really areprogramming the rover.
855
00:49:38,108 --> 00:49:39,076
It's not a joystick.
856
00:49:39,142 --> 00:49:43,680
It's, okay, you know,
go ten meters forward, turn five degrees,
857
00:49:43,747 --> 00:49:46,750
uh, you know, check for obstacles,
measure your progress.
858
00:49:48,518 --> 00:49:50,487
They don't knowhow the drive worked out
859
00:49:50,554 --> 00:49:52,622
until pictures come back the next day.
860
00:49:54,458 --> 00:49:57,894
The rover's safety depends onthose guys doing their job right.
861
00:49:58,495 --> 00:50:00,897
Okay, the person who's running
the Pancam camera
862
00:50:00,964 --> 00:50:04,368
is not gonna drive the rover off the cliff
or get it stuck in a sand dune.
863
00:50:04,801 --> 00:50:05,836
That's the rover drivers.
864
00:50:05,902 --> 00:50:10,440
Nobody has more anxiety every dayabout what's being done to the rovers.
865
00:50:10,507 --> 00:50:13,243
It's the feeling that I sequenced
all the commands
866
00:50:13,310 --> 00:50:14,611
that are gonna move this rover today,
867
00:50:14,678 --> 00:50:17,280
and if something goes wrong,
this is on me.
868
00:50:23,754 --> 00:50:27,591
Spirit had been sloggingfor eight weeks across a lava field
869
00:50:27,657 --> 00:50:29,626
to the base of the Columbia Hills.
870
00:50:31,895 --> 00:50:34,398
There might be a payoffon the upper slopes.
871
00:50:34,865 --> 00:50:37,601
But getting there would bea monumental challenge.
872
00:50:41,038 --> 00:50:44,041
Spirit's solar panels,her only source of power,
873
00:50:44,107 --> 00:50:45,342
were getting dusty,
874
00:50:45,409 --> 00:50:47,811
producing just half as much energyas they used to.
875
00:50:48,311 --> 00:50:51,648
And she was about to faceher first winter on Mars.
876
00:50:53,884 --> 00:50:56,753
We never expectedto survive a winter, period.
877
00:50:57,587 --> 00:51:01,024
We got to the baseof the Columbia Hills 156 days
878
00:51:01,425 --> 00:51:03,260
into what was supposed to bea 90-day mission.
879
00:51:04,528 --> 00:51:06,029
The seasons were changing.
880
00:51:06,863 --> 00:51:09,666
Spirit is in the southern hemisphere
of Mars.
881
00:51:09,733 --> 00:51:11,802
And what that means is in the winter
882
00:51:12,369 --> 00:51:14,471
the sun is gonna go low
in the northern sky.
883
00:51:14,538 --> 00:51:16,273
And it's gonna get
lower and lower and lower.
884
00:51:16,339 --> 00:51:19,810
And as it gets lower the amount of power
that we're gonna get from solar arrays
885
00:51:19,876 --> 00:51:23,146
is gonna get less and less and less
unless we can do something.
886
00:51:26,917 --> 00:51:29,519
It would helpif they could tilt the solar panels
887
00:51:29,586 --> 00:51:31,421
toward the sun to get more power.
888
00:51:33,223 --> 00:51:35,592
Well, we didn't builda tilt mechanism into the rover.
889
00:51:36,026 --> 00:51:37,861
The only way to tilt them towards the sun
890
00:51:37,928 --> 00:51:40,797
is to tilt the whole rover
towards the sun.
891
00:51:40,864 --> 00:51:44,000
But the beauty of it was,
now we had a hill.
892
00:51:46,536 --> 00:51:47,704
If they followed a route
893
00:51:47,771 --> 00:51:49,873
that kept the panelstilted toward the sun,
894
00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:52,509
Spirit might be able to survive the winter
895
00:51:52,576 --> 00:51:55,112
and climb the mountain at the same time.
896
00:51:56,913 --> 00:51:59,749
They'd have to stay the coursefor at least seven months.
897
00:52:01,251 --> 00:52:03,954
Mars takes two Earth yearsto orbit the sun,
898
00:52:04,020 --> 00:52:06,857
so Martian winters are twice as long.
899
00:52:08,291 --> 00:52:10,060
But now they had a chance.
900
00:52:11,027 --> 00:52:13,063
It started to dawn on us
901
00:52:13,130 --> 00:52:18,001
that we maybe had more lifein this thing than we had thought.
902
00:52:24,808 --> 00:52:27,577
NARRATOR:
Opportunity spent her first Martian winter
903
00:52:27,644 --> 00:52:30,647
on a sunny slope inside Endurance Crater.
904
00:52:32,682 --> 00:52:36,520
Sampling rocks down the crater walladded greater depth of time
905
00:52:36,586 --> 00:52:38,722
to the water story at Meridiani.
906
00:52:39,556 --> 00:52:42,092
Salty, acidic water soaked the ground
907
00:52:42,159 --> 00:52:45,362
for hundreds of thousandsif not millions of years.
908
00:52:48,832 --> 00:52:52,035
When summer returned it was timeto move on to something new,
909
00:52:53,436 --> 00:52:56,006
but it was a long wayfrom Endurance Crater
910
00:52:56,072 --> 00:52:57,574
to anything much different.
911
00:53:02,179 --> 00:53:04,915
The most obvious targetwas six kilometers,
912
00:53:05,215 --> 00:53:07,450
almost four miles to the south,
913
00:53:08,985 --> 00:53:12,155
a huge impact crater called Victoria.
914
00:53:13,390 --> 00:53:14,758
Deeper than Endurance,
915
00:53:14,824 --> 00:53:17,994
it was a chance to lookeven farther back in time.
916
00:53:19,095 --> 00:53:21,531
We thought,"Wow, could we get there?"
917
00:53:22,465 --> 00:53:26,169
Six kilometers to the south,
remember, that's six times
918
00:53:26,236 --> 00:53:28,972
the designed distance
capability of the rover.
919
00:53:32,375 --> 00:53:34,377
It looked likeeasy driving though,
920
00:53:34,644 --> 00:53:36,780
so they decided to put the pedal down
921
00:53:36,846 --> 00:53:38,448
and head to Victoria Crater.
922
00:53:47,457 --> 00:53:51,161
Spirit had been climbingthe Columbia Hills for six months,
923
00:53:51,528 --> 00:53:55,165
surviving that first winterwith solar panels tilted toward the sun.
924
00:53:58,501 --> 00:54:00,804
By now though, they were so dusty
925
00:54:00,870 --> 00:54:03,139
she would soon be unableto store enough power
926
00:54:03,206 --> 00:54:05,408
to survive the frigid Martian nights.
927
00:54:06,576 --> 00:54:08,878
The power went downand down and down.
928
00:54:08,945 --> 00:54:12,182
And Spirit was arguablygetting close to the end.
929
00:54:15,185 --> 00:54:19,456
And then one wonderful daya gust of wind hit the vehicle,
930
00:54:21,191 --> 00:54:22,926
cleaned the dust offthe solar arrays
931
00:54:22,993 --> 00:54:24,861
and all of a suddenwe had a brand-new rover again.
932
00:54:28,231 --> 00:54:31,101
It was just pure dumb luck.
933
00:54:31,901 --> 00:54:34,404
Spirit sent backthis picture of her own deck
934
00:54:34,471 --> 00:54:35,872
just before the cleanup,
935
00:54:36,806 --> 00:54:38,875
and this one just after.
936
00:54:40,210 --> 00:54:41,344
It's a new lease on life.
937
00:54:41,878 --> 00:54:44,180
We've got more power
than we can use.
938
00:54:44,247 --> 00:54:47,150
I mean, we have to shut the vehicle down
during the afternoon
939
00:54:47,217 --> 00:54:48,418
to keep it from overheating.
940
00:54:48,485 --> 00:54:49,719
It's producing so much power.
941
00:54:49,786 --> 00:54:51,221
It was, it was just astonishing.
942
00:54:56,192 --> 00:54:58,261
We were waking up the vehicle at night
943
00:54:58,328 --> 00:55:01,064
and taking pictures of the stars,the moons of Mars.
944
00:55:01,131 --> 00:55:02,732
I mean, we did amazing things.
945
00:55:05,702 --> 00:55:06,870
We're stargazing.
946
00:55:07,637 --> 00:55:09,439
We're explorers on another world
947
00:55:09,506 --> 00:55:11,541
looking up and looking
at the stars at night.
948
00:55:12,842 --> 00:55:17,414
It added a whole new dimensionto our experience.
949
00:55:18,148 --> 00:55:20,483
It gave us a sense ofwhat it's like at night on Mars.
950
00:55:25,822 --> 00:55:28,758
With power to spareSpirit now had a shot
951
00:55:28,825 --> 00:55:31,695
at reaching the summit calledHusband Hill.
952
00:55:32,962 --> 00:55:35,832
Everybody who worked on Spiritwanted that accomplishment.
953
00:55:37,167 --> 00:55:39,269
It wasn't so much about finding
the liquid water anymore,
954
00:55:39,336 --> 00:55:41,137
now it was about climbing that hill.
955
00:55:43,506 --> 00:55:45,942
Spirit had becomea mountain climber,
956
00:55:46,943 --> 00:55:50,547
and this was a chance to do somethingno climber had ever done before.
957
00:55:53,316 --> 00:55:57,420
Spirit could claim the first ascentof a peak on another planet.
958
00:56:08,098 --> 00:56:11,768
While Spirit climbed,Opportunity ran into trouble
959
00:56:11,835 --> 00:56:15,638
on what was supposed to bean easy drive to Victoria Crater.
960
00:56:16,639 --> 00:56:19,476
It was just thesegentle sloping dunes,
961
00:56:19,542 --> 00:56:21,511
uh, literally all the wayto the horizon.
962
00:56:21,578 --> 00:56:24,381
There wasn't a rock or a hazardto be seen anywhere.
963
00:56:24,948 --> 00:56:29,686
And we figured, "Oh, gosh, you could
drive blind in this area," it was so safe.
964
00:56:30,153 --> 00:56:33,590
We were using a driving technique
that I think could be charitably described
965
00:56:33,656 --> 00:56:36,259
as bombing along at top speed
with our eyes closed.
966
00:56:36,326 --> 00:56:37,527
Flight, Mobility.
967
00:56:37,594 --> 00:56:38,762
Go ahead, Mobility.
968
00:56:38,828 --> 00:56:40,163
MAN :
Up on screen number three
969
00:56:40,230 --> 00:56:42,699
is the trajectory that the roverbelieves that it drove.
970
00:56:42,766 --> 00:56:47,003
On sol 446,things suddenly came to a halt.
971
00:56:49,272 --> 00:56:52,709
Pictures from the previous solpopped up in mission control,
972
00:56:53,009 --> 00:56:57,147
and Opportunity's wheelswere buried to the hubs in deep sand.
973
00:56:58,848 --> 00:57:00,917
The wheelsbroke through the surface
974
00:57:00,984 --> 00:57:03,486
and we did 50 meters worth of wheel turns,
975
00:57:03,753 --> 00:57:08,358
thinking we were happily progressing
across the Meridiani Planum surface,
976
00:57:08,425 --> 00:57:12,195
and instead we were just digging slowly
down and down
977
00:57:12,695 --> 00:57:14,731
into this, into the sand.
978
00:57:14,798 --> 00:57:16,833
The wheels look like
they're about 80 percent
979
00:57:17,233 --> 00:57:18,601
under the ground there.
980
00:57:18,668 --> 00:57:20,403
It was a potential death trap,
981
00:57:20,703 --> 00:57:23,273
and it took some timeto figure out what to do next.
982
00:57:24,374 --> 00:57:28,244
The first rule in a situationlike that is don't do anything dumb.
983
00:57:28,745 --> 00:57:30,613
It literally didn't make
much more progress
984
00:57:30,680 --> 00:57:31,915
after about this point.
985
00:57:32,315 --> 00:57:34,184
We shouldn't have gotten
into this mess in the first place,
986
00:57:34,250 --> 00:57:37,587
but let's not make it worse
by-by guessing how to get out of it.
987
00:57:37,654 --> 00:57:40,190
...a roofline,
we're putting obstacles.
988
00:57:40,256 --> 00:57:43,026
NARRATOR:
At JPL they built a Martian sand dune
989
00:57:43,092 --> 00:57:46,362
trying different recipesof powdery clay and sand
990
00:57:46,429 --> 00:57:47,864
to get the right consistency.
991
00:57:52,101 --> 00:57:55,171
Then they brought in the test roverand spent two weeks
992
00:57:55,238 --> 00:57:57,574
trying to come up with an escape plan.
993
00:58:00,410 --> 00:58:03,146
After two and a half weeksthey found out the optimal technique
994
00:58:03,213 --> 00:58:04,914
was to just put it in reverse and gun it.
995
00:58:05,181 --> 00:58:08,017
Um, you know, there's-there's no place
you go to look this stuff up.
996
00:58:08,084 --> 00:58:10,086
You just try things
until you find what works best.
997
00:58:12,055 --> 00:58:15,925
On a Mars rover,gunning it happens in slow motion.
998
00:58:16,893 --> 00:58:21,564
We had to do 192 metersworth of wheel turns on Mars
999
00:58:21,631 --> 00:58:23,633
to get the vehicle to move one meter.
1000
00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:26,069
It took days and days and days.
1001
00:58:26,135 --> 00:58:28,705
You know, you'd do four meters,
eight meters worth of turns
1002
00:58:28,771 --> 00:58:30,974
and you'd come in the next morning
and it went that far.
1003
00:58:34,210 --> 00:58:36,012
On sol 484
1004
00:58:36,079 --> 00:58:39,015
Opportunity finally broke freeof the trap.
1005
00:58:44,020 --> 00:58:46,789
The ordeal in the dunethey called Purgatory
1006
00:58:46,856 --> 00:58:49,325
was Opportunity's first brush with death.
1007
00:58:52,896 --> 00:58:54,664
It would not be the last.
1008
00:59:06,409 --> 00:59:11,114
In September 2005,after more than a year of climbing,
1009
00:59:11,180 --> 00:59:14,250
Spirit reached the summitcalled Husband Hill.
1010
00:59:16,252 --> 00:59:18,688
She stands thereat the top of that hill
1011
00:59:18,755 --> 00:59:20,823
that she's conquered nowon another planet
1012
00:59:20,890 --> 00:59:24,227
and she looks atthe whole world around her.
1013
00:59:25,728 --> 00:59:27,564
I love her for bringing us that.
1014
00:59:30,633 --> 00:59:32,535
More than anything elseI think I felt,
1015
00:59:32,602 --> 00:59:34,637
"Gosh, aren't we lucky to do what we do."
1016
00:59:35,738 --> 00:59:37,774
You know, we just climbeda mountain on Mars.
1017
00:59:38,908 --> 00:59:39,776
Damn.
1018
00:59:48,017 --> 00:59:50,453
From the summitthey chose the next target,
1019
00:59:50,820 --> 00:59:55,024
a low mesa called Home Platewith a solar friendly hillside
1020
00:59:55,091 --> 00:59:56,926
just beyond it for the next winter.
1021
01:00:02,231 --> 01:00:06,603
165 sols laterSpirit had passed Home Plate,
1022
01:00:06,869 --> 01:00:10,306
and with winter closing in,was headed for McCool Hill.
1023
01:00:11,407 --> 01:00:13,509
The way we had spentthe last winter
1024
01:00:13,576 --> 01:00:16,779
was climbing the north facing slopeof Husband Hill.
1025
01:00:16,846 --> 01:00:18,681
And so we figurewe'll head for McCool Hill
1026
01:00:18,748 --> 01:00:20,550
and keep the solar raystilted towards the sun
1027
01:00:20,617 --> 01:00:22,619
and pull the same trickthat we pulled last winter.
1028
01:00:24,687 --> 01:00:28,558
What happened though was,the right front wheel quit.
1029
01:00:29,058 --> 01:00:30,893
The right front wheeljust stopped turning.
1030
01:00:33,329 --> 01:00:36,199
That came at a really bad time
because we were trying
1031
01:00:36,265 --> 01:00:38,267
to get onto the slopes of the McCool Hill
1032
01:00:38,334 --> 01:00:42,205
and without that wheel
functioning properly we can't climb.
1033
01:00:44,140 --> 01:00:47,710
At JPL, they experimentedwith 5-wheel driving.
1034
01:00:48,678 --> 01:00:50,913
They found it easierto drive backwards,
1035
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:52,382
dragging the dead wheel.
1036
01:00:52,715 --> 01:00:54,817
But it tended to pullthe rover off course,
1037
01:00:54,884 --> 01:00:56,986
complicating the drives.
1038
01:00:58,354 --> 01:01:01,257
Each day we only hadan hour to an hour and a half of power
1039
01:01:01,324 --> 01:01:04,894
and we had to write theseincredibly complicated sequences of,
1040
01:01:04,961 --> 01:01:08,765
you know, sometimes 400 commands
just to try to drive five meters.
1041
01:01:09,265 --> 01:01:10,833
You know when you go
to the grocery store
1042
01:01:10,900 --> 01:01:12,802
and you get the shopping cart
with the one stuck wheel,
1043
01:01:13,069 --> 01:01:16,105
um, and you're trying to get
that down the aisle?
1044
01:01:16,673 --> 01:01:19,642
Driving Spirit at this point
is a lot like trying to do that,
1045
01:01:19,709 --> 01:01:21,644
only your shopping cart
is 300 million miles away
1046
01:01:21,711 --> 01:01:22,812
and you have to drive it
with a keyboard.
1047
01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:26,516
We're learningto drive all over again.
1048
01:01:26,582 --> 01:01:27,950
The seasons are changing.
1049
01:01:28,017 --> 01:01:29,852
The power is getting less and less daily.
1050
01:01:29,919 --> 01:01:33,089
Everybody's starting to get nervous,
and then we get stuck.
1051
01:01:36,793 --> 01:01:39,962
We got into this, it was kinda likequicksand and we couldn't get out of it.
1052
01:01:41,497 --> 01:01:43,466
So we were thinking,
"Oh, my God, are we gonna be stuck here
1053
01:01:43,533 --> 01:01:45,068
and is the rover gonna die here?"
1054
01:01:46,436 --> 01:01:48,271
We were reallyin a race against the clock
1055
01:01:48,337 --> 01:01:51,007
because we had something like three weeks
1056
01:01:51,074 --> 01:01:54,644
before Spirit just wasn't gonna haveenough energy to survive the night.
1057
01:01:55,244 --> 01:01:58,648
And people were talking about her
like she was the walking dead.
1058
01:02:02,452 --> 01:02:05,054
Within a weekthey got Spirit out of the trap,
1059
01:02:05,922 --> 01:02:08,925
but by then it wastoo late to reach McCool Hill.
1060
01:02:10,326 --> 01:02:11,894
Now at this pointI'm starting to realize
1061
01:02:11,961 --> 01:02:14,964
that my dreams of operating this vehicle
and keeping it moving
1062
01:02:15,031 --> 01:02:18,267
and doing new science and new places
all winter long, that's dead.
1063
01:02:19,836 --> 01:02:22,271
You know, forget about this stuffhundreds of meters away.
1064
01:02:22,338 --> 01:02:23,506
We're never gonna make it.
1065
01:02:23,873 --> 01:02:26,242
What do we got that's next to us?
1066
01:02:28,211 --> 01:02:30,279
They settled for a spot nearby
1067
01:02:30,346 --> 01:02:33,282
where they could get at leasta minimal tilt toward the sun.
1068
01:02:35,184 --> 01:02:36,119
And that was it.
1069
01:02:37,754 --> 01:02:39,655
And there we sat for seven months.
1070
01:02:40,590 --> 01:02:41,724
But we survived.
1071
01:02:51,834 --> 01:02:55,071
With the return of summer,Spirit was moving again,
1072
01:02:55,138 --> 01:02:57,774
driving backwards,dragging the dead wheel,
1073
01:02:57,840 --> 01:02:59,742
leaving a trench behind.
1074
01:03:01,277 --> 01:03:03,379
We're driving along one day,in this little valley,
1075
01:03:04,447 --> 01:03:06,916
we look at the pictures of the trenchthat were dug that day,
1076
01:03:07,283 --> 01:03:09,786
and there's this one spotwhere the soil is
1077
01:03:09,852 --> 01:03:11,654
practically as bright as white snow.
1078
01:03:13,956 --> 01:03:14,957
That got our attention.
1079
01:03:16,459 --> 01:03:21,230
It turns out this stuffis more than 90 percent pure silica.
1080
01:03:22,498 --> 01:03:24,400
Not quartz. It's not beach sand.
1081
01:03:24,467 --> 01:03:26,369
This is amorphous silica.
1082
01:03:26,435 --> 01:03:27,637
It's like opal.
1083
01:03:29,539 --> 01:03:31,474
All of a sudden we realizewe've just come across something
1084
01:03:31,541 --> 01:03:34,777
completely new and differentthat we had never seen before.
1085
01:03:36,479 --> 01:03:38,481
On Earth, this kind of silica
1086
01:03:38,548 --> 01:03:42,385
forms in hot springsor volcanic steam vents.
1087
01:03:42,852 --> 01:03:44,220
And the thingthat's cool about that
1088
01:03:44,287 --> 01:03:47,056
is that you can go tohydrothermal systems on Earth
1089
01:03:47,123 --> 01:03:49,458
and they're teeming with microbial life.
1090
01:03:50,226 --> 01:03:51,994
Now I don't know if there was
microbial life here.
1091
01:03:52,061 --> 01:03:55,298
We didn't, you know, bring fossil
detection instruments with us,
1092
01:03:55,565 --> 01:03:57,533
but this is the kind of environment
1093
01:03:57,600 --> 01:03:59,869
that-that could have been
quite appropriate
1094
01:03:59,936 --> 01:04:02,071
for some hardy types of microbes.
1095
01:04:02,538 --> 01:04:04,307
And that makes ita pretty important place.
1096
01:04:06,542 --> 01:04:09,645
1,200 daysinto her 90-day mission,
1097
01:04:09,712 --> 01:04:12,014
Spirit made her biggest discovery
1098
01:04:13,049 --> 01:04:16,919
and chances are, it would nothave happened without the broken wheel.
1099
01:04:23,860 --> 01:04:26,195
In September 2006,
1100
01:04:26,262 --> 01:04:29,532
after almost two yearson the plains of Meridiani,
1101
01:04:30,433 --> 01:04:33,536
Opportunity reachedthe rim of Victoria Crater.
1102
01:04:40,476 --> 01:04:42,945
The bowl is a half-mile across,
1103
01:04:43,813 --> 01:04:46,148
five times the size of Endurance.
1104
01:04:50,653 --> 01:04:53,256
The viewwhen we first pulled up to the rim,
1105
01:04:54,590 --> 01:04:56,926
it was just like nothingwe had ever seen before.
1106
01:04:59,462 --> 01:05:01,397
It was like comingonto the Grand Canyon.
1107
01:05:02,531 --> 01:05:05,234
You know it's there
but it doesn't really prepare you
1108
01:05:05,301 --> 01:05:07,136
for the enormity
of what you're about to see.
1109
01:05:12,241 --> 01:05:14,610
Millions of yearsof Martian history
1110
01:05:14,677 --> 01:05:17,213
could be exposed in these rock faces,
1111
01:05:17,680 --> 01:05:20,516
but to read it, they needed to get close.
1112
01:05:24,053 --> 01:05:27,924
Opportunity set off on a scouting missionthat would last almost a year,
1113
01:05:28,858 --> 01:05:32,528
a daring drive alongthe sheer edge of the crater wall.
1114
01:05:37,366 --> 01:05:42,004
So we're literally tip-toeinga hundreds of millions of dollar vehicle
1115
01:05:42,071 --> 01:05:44,373
along the top of a cliff
on another planet.
1116
01:05:45,608 --> 01:05:49,145
If you can drive right outto the tip of one of those promontories,
1117
01:05:49,211 --> 01:05:52,214
right to the edge, you canshoot across with your camera
1118
01:05:52,281 --> 01:05:54,317
at the next promontory over,
1119
01:05:54,383 --> 01:05:56,919
which might be only30, 40, 50 meters away,
1120
01:05:56,986 --> 01:06:00,489
and you'll see thiswonderful cliff exposed there.
1121
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:06,929
But in order to get that view
you've got to go right to the edge.
1122
01:06:08,230 --> 01:06:10,866
We're right there
on the edge of the cliff.
1123
01:06:10,933 --> 01:06:14,437
And this is what'll happens
if we're not careful with the rover,
1124
01:06:14,837 --> 01:06:16,772
and our job is to not do that
1125
01:06:16,839 --> 01:06:19,141
and make sure that we stay up
on this side of the cliff.
1126
01:06:22,678 --> 01:06:25,614
Along the way,the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
1127
01:06:25,681 --> 01:06:27,950
took a picture from 200 miles up,
1128
01:06:28,517 --> 01:06:32,054
showing the tracksof Opportunity's daring drive.
1129
01:06:33,823 --> 01:06:38,761
To me that image representsone of the finest accomplishments
1130
01:06:38,828 --> 01:06:40,963
in the history of planetary robotics.
1131
01:06:43,065 --> 01:06:44,934
To have been able to pull off that drive,
1132
01:06:45,001 --> 01:06:47,169
time after timewith the scientists saying,
1133
01:06:47,236 --> 01:06:49,739
"Oh, get closer, get closer,we gotta get closer!"
1134
01:06:50,673 --> 01:06:52,975
It was an incredible, incredible drive.
1135
01:06:57,046 --> 01:07:00,149
After seven months,they'd seen enough from the rim
1136
01:07:00,216 --> 01:07:01,951
and were ready to go inside.
1137
01:07:03,119 --> 01:07:07,089
The best way in appeared to be the spotwhere they first approached the crater.
1138
01:07:09,025 --> 01:07:13,262
So Opportunity headed backwhere she came from 200 sols before,
1139
01:07:14,497 --> 01:07:17,466
and into the pathof a dangerous storm.
1140
01:07:27,109 --> 01:07:29,879
Weather is notusually a problem on Mars,
1141
01:07:30,546 --> 01:07:32,381
with one large exception.
1142
01:07:34,984 --> 01:07:38,821
Once every three years or so,there's a massive dust storm.
1143
01:07:40,790 --> 01:07:42,825
Our first summeron Mars it didn't happen.
1144
01:07:44,093 --> 01:07:46,595
And our second summeron Mars it didn't happen.
1145
01:07:47,997 --> 01:07:49,632
But our third summer
on Mars it happened.
1146
01:07:50,232 --> 01:07:52,768
And it blew up into a global storm,
1147
01:07:53,903 --> 01:07:55,171
blanketed the entire planet.
1148
01:07:56,005 --> 01:07:59,108
From where Opportunity saton Meridiani Planum,
1149
01:07:59,175 --> 01:08:02,011
you looked up and you couldn't tellwhere the sun was in the sky.
1150
01:08:05,648 --> 01:08:07,917
The amount of direct sunlight
1151
01:08:08,284 --> 01:08:11,854
that was reaching the solar panelswas less than one percent
1152
01:08:12,588 --> 01:08:14,190
of what it is on a clear day.
1153
01:08:15,858 --> 01:08:19,295
At JPL they shut downall but the most essential systems
1154
01:08:19,361 --> 01:08:21,297
on the rover to conserve power.
1155
01:08:23,099 --> 01:08:25,568
They were never designedto survive a dust storm.
1156
01:08:26,368 --> 01:08:27,837
The rovers are solar powered.
1157
01:08:27,903 --> 01:08:29,905
They need the sunlight to survive.
1158
01:08:30,806 --> 01:08:34,677
So each day we would turn things offreducing the amount of power.
1159
01:08:34,743 --> 01:08:37,012
But, you know, you can't turneverything off
1160
01:08:37,079 --> 01:08:40,149
because it's all about keepingthe rover warm.
1161
01:08:42,118 --> 01:08:44,720
One of the thingsthat keeps the vehicle warm
1162
01:08:44,787 --> 01:08:46,455
is running the computer inside.
1163
01:08:47,123 --> 01:08:49,358
And so there wasthis delicate balancing act
1164
01:08:49,425 --> 01:08:52,461
between running the computerenough to keep it warm,
1165
01:08:52,528 --> 01:08:55,131
but not running it so much
that you draw the batteries down too much.
1166
01:08:55,197 --> 01:08:57,399
And we were just right on the edge
1167
01:08:57,766 --> 01:09:00,736
of-of-of, uh, catastrophe.
1168
01:09:04,874 --> 01:09:08,277
On the other side of Marsthe dust was not as heavy,
1169
01:09:08,344 --> 01:09:11,180
and for once, Spirit had fewer problems.
1170
01:09:13,449 --> 01:09:15,050
But at Victoria Crater,
1171
01:09:15,117 --> 01:09:17,386
Opportunity was in serious trouble.
1172
01:09:19,555 --> 01:09:21,957
Soon the power would be so low
1173
01:09:22,024 --> 01:09:24,260
that the rover wouldautomatically shut down
1174
01:09:24,326 --> 01:09:27,129
until there was enough sunlightto recharge the batteries.
1175
01:09:28,797 --> 01:09:31,333
Within a few days, that could be fatal.
1176
01:09:32,968 --> 01:09:36,138
It's like sittingat someone's deathbed, you know,
1177
01:09:36,205 --> 01:09:38,140
and waiting and waiting and wondering,
1178
01:09:38,207 --> 01:09:42,478
"Well, is it going to, uh, gonna survive,
is it going to come back?
1179
01:09:42,545 --> 01:09:44,346
Is it going to be able
to talk to us or..."
1180
01:09:44,914 --> 01:09:49,084
And, uh, it-it was very agonizing,it got to the point
1181
01:09:49,151 --> 01:09:52,288
where you couldn't even take measurementsto figure out how bad it was.
1182
01:09:52,354 --> 01:09:54,623
All you could dois just sort of sit there.
1183
01:09:55,891 --> 01:09:57,693
We just ran out of things to try.
1184
01:10:02,932 --> 01:10:05,267
Just about everyonehad given up hope,
1185
01:10:06,101 --> 01:10:08,237
but then the sky began to clear,
1186
01:10:08,504 --> 01:10:11,674
and the six-week ordealfinally came to an end.
1187
01:10:14,043 --> 01:10:15,578
Still the lucky rover,
1188
01:10:15,878 --> 01:10:19,081
a gust of windcleared Opportunity's solar panels,
1189
01:10:19,148 --> 01:10:20,683
and she went back to work.
1190
01:10:26,355 --> 01:10:29,858
In Gusev Crater,Spirit survived the storm,
1191
01:10:29,925 --> 01:10:32,761
but when the dust settled, she got buried,
1192
01:10:33,495 --> 01:10:35,731
and winter was coming once again.
1193
01:10:36,398 --> 01:10:38,234
We needed to find a place
1194
01:10:38,300 --> 01:10:42,004
for Spirit to try to surviveits third winter on Mars.
1195
01:10:42,071 --> 01:10:45,574
And at this point the roveris so dirty from the dust storm
1196
01:10:45,641 --> 01:10:47,843
that a 12 degree tiltis not gonna cut it.
1197
01:10:49,111 --> 01:10:50,412
We need a 30 degree slope.
1198
01:10:50,846 --> 01:10:53,115
And this is a rover
that can't climb 30 degree slopes.
1199
01:10:53,916 --> 01:10:55,551
The only option at this point
1200
01:10:55,851 --> 01:10:58,954
was to drive acrossHome Plate to the north rim
1201
01:10:59,021 --> 01:11:01,023
where Spirit could back off the edge
1202
01:11:01,090 --> 01:11:03,425
to tilt her solar panels toward the sun.
1203
01:11:04,393 --> 01:11:06,662
ASHLEY:
We had about 40 days to get there,
1204
01:11:07,029 --> 01:11:09,298
and of course with the power situationalready getting low
1205
01:11:09,365 --> 01:11:11,033
we couldn't drive everyday,
1206
01:11:11,100 --> 01:11:12,234
and with that broken wheel
1207
01:11:12,301 --> 01:11:14,470
we couldn't get far
on every day of those drives.
1208
01:11:14,536 --> 01:11:16,305
So we really had to make
the most of that time.
1209
01:11:17,873 --> 01:11:20,276
So we started driving acrossthe top of Home Plate
1210
01:11:20,342 --> 01:11:21,944
to get to this parking spot.
1211
01:11:22,378 --> 01:11:24,446
And we drove right into a sand trap.
1212
01:11:25,681 --> 01:11:28,984
They call it Tartarus,the lowest level of Hell,
1213
01:11:29,518 --> 01:11:34,490
a micro-crater full of sand too deepfor Spirit to handle with five wheels.
1214
01:11:36,425 --> 01:11:38,127
We really got into a fix there.
1215
01:11:39,094 --> 01:11:41,664
The two back wheelswere off the ground.
1216
01:11:41,730 --> 01:11:43,265
So they're not working at all.
1217
01:11:43,732 --> 01:11:45,434
The right front wheel is dead.
1218
01:11:45,501 --> 01:11:48,570
So a six wheel vehicle
now actually only has three wheels
1219
01:11:48,637 --> 01:11:50,372
that are doing us any good whatsoever.
1220
01:11:51,740 --> 01:11:54,343
There was onelast escape route to try,
1221
01:11:54,810 --> 01:11:57,012
but it was right at the edgeof Home Plate.
1222
01:11:57,713 --> 01:12:00,115
The slightest miscalculationon the way out
1223
01:12:00,182 --> 01:12:02,384
could send Spirit over the edge.
1224
01:12:03,352 --> 01:12:06,221
We had triedevery single trick we had.
1225
01:12:06,288 --> 01:12:09,625
And if that drive didn't work
the mission was probably over.
1226
01:12:10,459 --> 01:12:13,395
We sequenced itand we sent it up to the rover.
1227
01:12:13,462 --> 01:12:16,165
And a lot of us got no sleep that night.
1228
01:12:20,736 --> 01:12:23,839
Sol 1388,I will always remember it.
1229
01:12:24,206 --> 01:12:28,711
That was maybe the most crucial drivethat Spirit ever did.
1230
01:12:33,415 --> 01:12:34,683
And it worked.
1231
01:12:35,284 --> 01:12:38,287
We got out of Tartarus,
and we got across Home Plate,
1232
01:12:38,354 --> 01:12:41,657
eased our way downonto that 30 degree slope,
1233
01:12:42,124 --> 01:12:44,993
and because of that,we have a fighting chance
1234
01:12:45,060 --> 01:12:47,296
of actually making it throughour third winter on Mars.
1235
01:12:51,767 --> 01:12:53,869
ASHLEY:
These rovers are pretty old now.
1236
01:12:54,269 --> 01:12:56,071
They're getting kind of arthritic.
1237
01:12:56,138 --> 01:12:57,906
They don't see quite as well anymore
1238
01:12:57,973 --> 01:13:00,776
because the cameras are getting
more and more coated with dust,
1239
01:13:00,843 --> 01:13:02,745
so that their vision
is getting a little fuzzy.
1240
01:13:05,047 --> 01:13:06,548
They've been through so much.
1241
01:13:06,849 --> 01:13:09,118
You know, I mean, the perilsthat they have been through
1242
01:13:09,184 --> 01:13:11,553
and that we've kind ofsuffered through with them,
1243
01:13:12,788 --> 01:13:14,790
it's like any kind of relationshipwith somebody.
1244
01:13:14,857 --> 01:13:17,159
As you go throughmany things over the years,
1245
01:13:17,226 --> 01:13:19,094
the-the relationship deepens.
1246
01:13:21,163 --> 01:13:23,265
SCOTT:
We feel so close to these vehicles.
1247
01:13:24,466 --> 01:13:27,970
They are our bodies,they are the way that we go to Mars,
1248
01:13:28,036 --> 01:13:30,639
and we're people who grew updreaming about the possibility
1249
01:13:30,706 --> 01:13:33,409
that one day we might walkon other worlds.
1250
01:13:36,745 --> 01:13:39,915
We can see ourselves in the rovers.
1251
01:13:40,282 --> 01:13:42,050
They've lasted so long,
1252
01:13:42,117 --> 01:13:45,687
it gives you a sense
that they're... determined.
1253
01:13:46,588 --> 01:13:51,660
Determination in a, in a hunk of metal,
but that's the way it feels.
1254
01:13:53,462 --> 01:13:56,498
And then above allthey move through the scene
1255
01:13:56,765 --> 01:13:59,401
with the ability to dowhat a human would do.
1256
01:14:00,436 --> 01:14:03,539
To stop, look around, say,
1257
01:14:04,072 --> 01:14:06,375
"That looks interesting. Let's go there."
1258
01:14:09,311 --> 01:14:13,816
In September 2008,after 700 sols at Victoria Crater,
1259
01:14:14,183 --> 01:14:17,586
Opportunity embarked on what looked likean impossible journey,
1260
01:14:18,620 --> 01:14:20,622
seven miles across the plains
1261
01:14:20,689 --> 01:14:23,459
to an even bigger cratercalled Endeavour.
1262
01:14:24,393 --> 01:14:26,662
It looked crazy.But what were we gonna do?
1263
01:14:27,262 --> 01:14:29,398
We finished up at Victoria Crater.
1264
01:14:29,765 --> 01:14:34,236
We come out
and for miles in every direction
1265
01:14:34,303 --> 01:14:35,804
it's more of the same stuff.
1266
01:14:36,805 --> 01:14:39,741
Endeavour Craterlooked impossibly far away.
1267
01:14:40,175 --> 01:14:43,979
But it was the only goalthat I felt was worthy of that rover.
1268
01:14:44,546 --> 01:14:46,014
And so we set off.
1269
01:14:50,352 --> 01:14:53,555
Straddling Home Plate,tilted toward the sun,
1270
01:14:53,989 --> 01:14:56,859
Spirit survivedher third winter on Mars.
1271
01:14:57,359 --> 01:14:58,861
Still coated with dust,
1272
01:14:58,927 --> 01:15:02,464
her solar panels produceda fraction of the power they once did,
1273
01:15:03,065 --> 01:15:04,566
but it was time to move.
1274
01:15:08,270 --> 01:15:10,806
Spirit was on the north sideof Home Plate.
1275
01:15:12,241 --> 01:15:15,444
The scientists wanted to explorethe area to the south.
1276
01:15:17,513 --> 01:15:19,548
The problem for the rover drivers
1277
01:15:19,615 --> 01:15:22,451
was how to getwhere the scientists wanted to go.
1278
01:15:25,487 --> 01:15:28,023
The shortest routewas straight across Home Plate.
1279
01:15:28,090 --> 01:15:31,593
But with her broken wheel,Spirit couldn't climb back up the bank.
1280
01:15:33,195 --> 01:15:34,563
They tried the east side,
1281
01:15:34,630 --> 01:15:37,399
but ran into soft groundand had to turn back.
1282
01:15:39,902 --> 01:15:42,437
They had to settlefor the long way around,
1283
01:15:42,504 --> 01:15:44,006
through unknown terrain.
1284
01:15:47,042 --> 01:15:52,581
On sol 1886, they were driving southalong the west side of Home Plate.
1285
01:15:55,417 --> 01:15:57,052
It looked like solid ground,
1286
01:15:59,221 --> 01:16:03,225
but it was just a thin crustthat suddenly gave way.
1287
01:16:05,227 --> 01:16:06,895
And the wheels started spinning
1288
01:16:06,962 --> 01:16:09,698
in this very fluffy soft stuff
1289
01:16:09,765 --> 01:16:11,600
and we just couldn't get any traction.
1290
01:16:12,634 --> 01:16:15,504
We were driving a wounded vehiclethrough very treacherous terrain,
1291
01:16:15,571 --> 01:16:16,939
and, uh, we knew it.
1292
01:16:17,873 --> 01:16:21,376
This was the kind of trap that we knew
might be out there waiting for us.
1293
01:16:21,443 --> 01:16:23,445
That's why we didn't wanna go down there
in the first place.
1294
01:16:23,512 --> 01:16:25,213
But it was the only way
to get where we wanted to go.
1295
01:16:28,784 --> 01:16:31,119
Each time we would get stuck therewas always a concern,
1296
01:16:31,186 --> 01:16:32,154
"Hey, this could be it."
1297
01:16:33,055 --> 01:16:36,024
But, uh, this one was
looking worse than most.
1298
01:16:42,030 --> 01:16:43,498
Well, there is a lot of stress.
1299
01:16:43,832 --> 01:16:46,335
People are having a hard time,
we-we all are.
1300
01:16:47,202 --> 01:16:50,172
If there's a way of getting the rover outwe're gonna find it.
1301
01:16:50,872 --> 01:16:54,109
It is howevera very, very difficult situation.
1302
01:16:58,580 --> 01:17:01,216
Months later,Spirit was still stuck.
1303
01:17:02,017 --> 01:17:03,785
Another winter was closing in,
1304
01:17:03,852 --> 01:17:06,088
and the rover was ina dangerous position,
1305
01:17:06,521 --> 01:17:09,224
with solar panelstilted away from the sun.
1306
01:17:10,525 --> 01:17:12,094
We were running out of time,
1307
01:17:12,160 --> 01:17:15,030
after all of our testing we came upwith a plan that we thought would work
1308
01:17:15,864 --> 01:17:18,600
and we were ready to try it out on Mars.
1309
01:17:19,901 --> 01:17:22,304
But then, what sealed the deal,
1310
01:17:22,371 --> 01:17:24,973
what finished itwas we lost another wheel.
1311
01:17:27,309 --> 01:17:29,611
The right front wheelhad already failed,
1312
01:17:29,678 --> 01:17:32,280
and with two dead wheels
that thing's not gonna move.
1313
01:17:32,781 --> 01:17:34,983
That was it. I mean, when we lost
the second wheel we were done.
1314
01:17:37,352 --> 01:17:41,023
In March 2010,Spirit did not call home
1315
01:17:41,089 --> 01:17:43,225
for a scheduled communication session.
1316
01:17:44,192 --> 01:17:48,330
Starved for power, the rover likely wentinto hibernation mode,
1317
01:17:49,097 --> 01:17:52,501
no survival heaters,no communication,
1318
01:17:52,868 --> 01:17:56,104
just waiting for the summer sunto recharge its batteries.
1319
01:17:58,507 --> 01:18:01,576
Even then, we stillhad a lot of hope for her,
1320
01:18:01,643 --> 01:18:03,812
and we still believed
that she was gonna come out of it.
1321
01:18:06,381 --> 01:18:10,686
By September 2010,spring had returned to Gusev Crater,
1322
01:18:10,986 --> 01:18:15,157
and with it, the possibility that Spiritwould wake up and call home.
1323
01:18:16,091 --> 01:18:19,594
We're involvedin a very extensive recovery effort
1324
01:18:19,661 --> 01:18:23,665
sending commands to the rover in the hope
of eliciting some sort of response.
1325
01:18:25,534 --> 01:18:27,903
They sent upmore than 1,000 commands
1326
01:18:27,969 --> 01:18:29,638
over the next ten months.
1327
01:18:29,705 --> 01:18:31,073
The command is radiating.
1328
01:18:31,139 --> 01:18:34,076
It will take four-and-a-half minutes,
and then once that's done...
1329
01:18:34,142 --> 01:18:35,711
They monitoredSpirit's channels
1330
01:18:35,777 --> 01:18:37,345
on the Deep Space Network,
1331
01:18:37,412 --> 01:18:39,448
listening for any hint of a signal.
1332
01:18:39,715 --> 01:18:42,617
There's a possiblesignal we're trying to acquire.
1333
01:18:43,385 --> 01:18:44,653
Copy that.
1334
01:18:44,720 --> 01:18:47,155
At times,they thought they had something.
1335
01:18:47,222 --> 01:18:50,092
Hey, John,
2-2-0-2-1-2 positive signal...
1336
01:18:51,293 --> 01:18:55,630
Spirit had pulled thingsout of the fire so many times,
1337
01:18:55,697 --> 01:18:59,768
I don't think anybody truly believed
that she wouldn't get out of this one too.
1338
01:19:01,803 --> 01:19:02,938
Not this time.
1339
01:19:04,706 --> 01:19:09,678
By the spring of 2011,Spirit had been silent for over a year.
1340
01:19:10,946 --> 01:19:12,714
I've been missing herfor a long time,
1341
01:19:12,781 --> 01:19:16,852
and it's tough to kind of puta finality to that, and say,
1342
01:19:16,918 --> 01:19:18,987
"Okay, that last time you heard from her
1343
01:19:19,054 --> 01:19:20,889
is the last time you are
ever gonna hear from her."
1344
01:19:23,024 --> 01:19:26,228
People are holding out hopebut I think the reality is,
1345
01:19:26,294 --> 01:19:28,730
is people have to start
to accept that, uh,
1346
01:19:29,331 --> 01:19:31,700
that Spirit's time on Mars may be done.
1347
01:19:34,436 --> 01:19:37,572
They listened intermittentlyfor another six months,
1348
01:19:38,273 --> 01:19:40,509
but Spirit's mission was over.
1349
01:19:42,811 --> 01:19:45,514
Her final resting placenext to Home Plate
1350
01:19:45,580 --> 01:19:47,783
is a hard-fought five miles
1351
01:19:47,849 --> 01:19:51,920
from her landing siteon the far side of the Columbia Hills.
1352
01:19:56,191 --> 01:19:59,795
I always feltthat the one honorable way
1353
01:20:00,262 --> 01:20:03,131
to lose our roverwould be we just wore it out.
1354
01:20:03,565 --> 01:20:05,033
And that's what happened with Spirit.
1355
01:20:06,568 --> 01:20:09,070
We just beat it up to the pointwhere it couldn't work anymore.
1356
01:20:09,137 --> 01:20:12,207
Which meant that we had squeezed
everything out of our creation
1357
01:20:12,274 --> 01:20:13,575
that we possibly could have.
1358
01:20:14,209 --> 01:20:15,677
So that's an honorable death.
1359
01:20:17,879 --> 01:20:20,515
And then the other thingthat made it tolerable
1360
01:20:20,582 --> 01:20:21,683
was we had to go back to work
1361
01:20:21,750 --> 01:20:23,618
and keep operating Opportunitythe next day.
1362
01:20:24,920 --> 01:20:26,388
We still had a living rover.
1363
01:20:35,297 --> 01:20:37,265
Spirit's mission was over,
1364
01:20:37,532 --> 01:20:42,003
but Opportunity was still crawlingacross the plains of Meridiani.
1365
01:20:44,673 --> 01:20:50,011
In early 2011 she was spotted at the rimof a small crater called Santa Maria,
1366
01:20:51,046 --> 01:20:54,082
seventeen milesfrom her original landing site,
1367
01:20:55,050 --> 01:20:59,020
with miles to go in herthree-year journey to Endeavour Crater.
1368
01:21:01,556 --> 01:21:03,191
It was a long three years,
1369
01:21:04,159 --> 01:21:07,762
day after day after day after day.
1370
01:21:08,330 --> 01:21:11,433
The only thing to break the monotonywas an occasional meteorite.
1371
01:21:18,773 --> 01:21:22,277
I think some ofthe most haunting images from the rovers
1372
01:21:22,344 --> 01:21:25,547
has got to beOpportunity's look backwards
1373
01:21:25,614 --> 01:21:27,983
toward the place we had come from.
1374
01:21:29,584 --> 01:21:34,456
There's this sense of vastness of Mars,
1375
01:21:35,590 --> 01:21:38,793
the sense of being
a long way from home.
1376
01:21:41,296 --> 01:21:44,599
This poor roveris so far from where it had come,
1377
01:21:45,267 --> 01:21:48,937
and yet had so far to goto its next destination.
1378
01:21:54,009 --> 01:21:55,677
Like a captain's log,
1379
01:21:55,744 --> 01:21:59,481
Opportunity's camera recordedthe long voyage to Endeavour Crater.
1380
01:22:01,049 --> 01:22:02,651
It was very reminiscent
1381
01:22:03,685 --> 01:22:07,289
of what you might imagine
if there's a sailor,
1382
01:22:07,889 --> 01:22:10,759
a sailing ship that's been at sea
for a long period of time,
1383
01:22:10,825 --> 01:22:13,929
and we were driving acrossthis flat ocean,
1384
01:22:13,995 --> 01:22:16,798
and off in the distancerising like an island
1385
01:22:16,865 --> 01:22:20,435
out of that ocean you can seethe rim of Endeavour Crater.
1386
01:22:20,502 --> 01:22:22,704
It got closer and closerand closer every day.
1387
01:22:23,405 --> 01:22:25,674
And it felt like coming ashore.
1388
01:22:28,743 --> 01:22:30,712
And when we got to the rim
of the crater everything changed.
1389
01:22:33,615 --> 01:22:35,817
It was like a new landing site.It was like a new mission.
1390
01:22:37,786 --> 01:22:38,954
It was a breakthrough for us.
1391
01:22:39,020 --> 01:22:40,322
It was really a breakthrough.
1392
01:22:43,391 --> 01:22:45,827
Now we're seeing completelydifferent geochemistry,
1393
01:22:45,894 --> 01:22:47,529
completely different geology.
1394
01:22:50,065 --> 01:22:53,802
The most exciting thingwas that we found
1395
01:22:53,868 --> 01:22:57,072
very, very concentrated depositsof clay minerals.
1396
01:22:58,907 --> 01:23:02,410
And clays tell a storyabout water completely different
1397
01:23:02,844 --> 01:23:04,679
from the onethat we had seen before.
1398
01:23:06,548 --> 01:23:11,186
The clays tell a story
about water you could drink.
1399
01:23:11,252 --> 01:23:13,355
Water that's neutral in its pH.
1400
01:23:13,421 --> 01:23:16,391
Water that would be much more suitable
1401
01:23:16,458 --> 01:23:19,260
for, uh, not just the existence of life
1402
01:23:19,327 --> 01:23:20,595
but for the birth of life.
1403
01:23:23,498 --> 01:23:26,101
Opportunity wouldspend the next seven years
1404
01:23:26,167 --> 01:23:28,536
exploring the rim of Endeavour Crater.
1405
01:23:29,437 --> 01:23:35,143
In February 2018,she passed 5,000 sols on Mars.
1406
01:23:35,944 --> 01:23:39,347
This is like a car goinga million miles without an oil change.
1407
01:23:39,614 --> 01:23:41,316
I mean, it's just phenomenal.
1408
01:23:41,716 --> 01:23:45,086
And we still don't understand
how it was able to last so long.
1409
01:23:46,488 --> 01:23:49,090
In June,Opportunity was headed down
1410
01:23:49,157 --> 01:23:50,992
a valley in the crater wall
1411
01:23:51,059 --> 01:23:53,561
when a massive dust storm rolled in,
1412
01:23:54,295 --> 01:23:58,433
far worse than the oneshe survived 11 years before.
1413
01:23:59,534 --> 01:24:02,137
It was justa completely dark sky,
1414
01:24:02,203 --> 01:24:04,539
uh, no sunlight and so no power generation
1415
01:24:04,606 --> 01:24:07,942
and eventually the rover would exhaust
its batteries and fall silent.
1416
01:24:10,178 --> 01:24:13,982
Unpowered and unheatedat 100 degrees below zero,
1417
01:24:14,349 --> 01:24:16,551
a younger rover might survive,
1418
01:24:17,018 --> 01:24:19,521
but Opportunity is no longer young.
1419
01:24:20,355 --> 01:24:23,758
This is like the difference
between your teenage nephew
1420
01:24:23,825 --> 01:24:26,561
going out in the winter time
without a jacket
1421
01:24:26,861 --> 01:24:28,730
and your 97-year-old grandmother
1422
01:24:28,797 --> 01:24:30,765
going out in the winter time
without a jacket.
1423
01:24:30,832 --> 01:24:32,300
The teenager
you're not so worried about,
1424
01:24:32,367 --> 01:24:34,469
but your grandmother
you're really concerned about.
1425
01:24:34,836 --> 01:24:36,204
And so that's where we are.
1426
01:24:37,906 --> 01:24:40,375
Three months laterthe storm begins to clear.
1427
01:24:43,812 --> 01:24:47,615
If Opportunity survived,and the sun is recharging the batteries,
1428
01:24:47,682 --> 01:24:50,351
the rover should wake upand call home.
1429
01:24:52,353 --> 01:24:54,989
But there may be so much duston the solar panels
1430
01:24:55,056 --> 01:24:58,293
that Opportunity would shut down againbefore making the call.
1431
01:24:59,160 --> 01:25:02,297
It's an unlikely scenariobut we wanna cover all possibilities
1432
01:25:02,363 --> 01:25:03,565
so we're sending commands,
1433
01:25:03,631 --> 01:25:06,101
hoping to catch the rover
when it wakes up briefly
1434
01:25:06,167 --> 01:25:07,769
before it shuts down again.
1435
01:25:07,836 --> 01:25:10,738
And these commands would tell
the rover send us a signal.
1436
01:25:14,976 --> 01:25:17,011
So this is a wide band receiver,
1437
01:25:17,612 --> 01:25:19,981
that's just listening for anything
that might be coming down,
1438
01:25:20,415 --> 01:25:21,716
and what we would expect to see
1439
01:25:21,783 --> 01:25:24,018
would be a sharp spike right here
in the middle,
1440
01:25:24,719 --> 01:25:27,322
a sharp line which would be
our rover talking to us.
1441
01:25:28,823 --> 01:25:30,325
The panels may be so dirty
1442
01:25:30,391 --> 01:25:33,561
that Opportunity can't wake upeven briefly.
1443
01:25:34,462 --> 01:25:38,466
But that could change in the months aheadwhen the windy season returns to Mars.
1444
01:25:39,234 --> 01:25:41,736
You know, if she's really dirty,
we know the winds are coming
1445
01:25:41,803 --> 01:25:44,639
and we've seen the rovers
get cleaned off every year
1446
01:25:44,706 --> 01:25:48,943
and it could well be enough that,
to-to wake Opportunity back up again.
1447
01:25:50,945 --> 01:25:53,515
But it is Mars,so we don't know for sure,
1448
01:25:53,581 --> 01:25:55,083
we'll just have to wait and see.
1449
01:25:57,185 --> 01:25:58,153
This is done.
1450
01:25:58,219 --> 01:26:00,822
Uh, no signal, that's a wrap for today.
1451
01:26:01,356 --> 01:26:02,857
We'll try again tomorrow.
1452
01:26:06,060 --> 01:26:10,899
They set out to prove that Marsis worth exploring, despite the risk.
1453
01:26:12,834 --> 01:26:17,038
Spirit and Opportunitychanged the way we think about Mars.
1454
01:26:20,675 --> 01:26:25,046
When your perspectiveis constantly changing,
1455
01:26:26,347 --> 01:26:29,684
you are exploringas a human being would explore.
1456
01:26:31,586 --> 01:26:35,456
And this was our first viewof what that looks like.
1457
01:26:42,397 --> 01:26:46,201
And the discoveriesthat water had been on the surface
1458
01:26:47,769 --> 01:26:49,804
meant we were going back.
1459
01:26:56,377 --> 01:26:59,414
We have put other missionson the surface of Mars
1460
01:26:59,480 --> 01:27:00,648
and we are working on putting
1461
01:27:00,715 --> 01:27:02,517
additional missionson the surface of Mars.
1462
01:27:02,584 --> 01:27:06,788
And we're really doing all of that
because of Spirit and Opportunity.
1463
01:27:09,424 --> 01:27:11,759
NARRATOR:
Eight months after falling silent,
1464
01:27:11,826 --> 01:27:15,096
there was still no signthat Opportunity survived the storm.
1465
01:27:16,731 --> 01:27:18,666
In February 2019,
1466
01:27:19,434 --> 01:27:23,271
just over 15 yearssince Opportunity landed on Mars,
1467
01:27:23,338 --> 01:27:26,040
NASA announcedthat her mission was over.
1468
01:27:33,081 --> 01:27:36,584
Spirit and Opportunityopened the Martian frontier for good,
1469
01:27:38,886 --> 01:27:42,257
and now they'll sit forever on a planet
1470
01:27:42,323 --> 01:27:46,060
where little has changedin billions of years.
1471
01:27:47,829 --> 01:27:51,833
It's cold, it's dry,there's no vegetation.
1472
01:27:51,899 --> 01:27:54,135
They're not gonna rustor anything like that.
1473
01:27:57,905 --> 01:27:59,507
You know, these things could bestill sitting there
1474
01:27:59,574 --> 01:28:03,344
with their, you know, aluminum surfacesshining a million years from now.
1475
01:28:05,713 --> 01:28:08,316
They're gonna last a long, long time.
1476
01:28:10,718 --> 01:28:13,588
Longer than most thingsthat humans have ever built.
128138
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