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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,236 COMMS: liftoff of Messenger an NASA ’5 mission to Mercury. 2 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,871 BRIAN COX: Beyond the warm worlds of the inner solar system... 3 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,830 ...beyond the gas giantJupiter... 4 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,837 ...in the freezing regions far beyond the Sun... 5 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:30,629 ...lies Saturn... 6 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,591 ...a planet made unique 7 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:45,397 thanks to a nearly 300,000-kilometre-wide ring of frozen water. 8 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,031 Here, trillions of pieces of ice have been sculpted 9 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:02,752 by gravitational forces 10 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,237 into some of the solar system's most stunning vistas. 11 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,758 Here, on Earth, water takes many forms - 12 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,792 oceans and clouds and rivers - 13 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:42,074 but it's in its crystalline form - ice - that it‘s at its most beautiful. 14 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,634 Now, here, icejust adorns the landscape, 15 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,797 but in the outer solar system, where Saturn lives, 16 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:53,870 ice is so abundant that, well, it‘s becomea building material. 17 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,275 Now, there‘s no more beautiful sight in the solar system 18 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:58,630 than the ice rings of Saturn. 19 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,719 It‘s almost as if a god has taken snowflakes and sprinkled them 20 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,877 over a gravitational field so we could see it. 21 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,309 But how could something so intricate 22 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:12,069 be sculpted out of something so simple? 23 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:18,594 Well, as is always the case in science, the true beauty lies in the story. 24 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:28,430 Saturn is a planet that has undergone some of the most radical transformations 25 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:29,834 in the solar system... 26 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,592 ...a planet that has seen destruction... 27 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,794 ...and creation... 28 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,869 ...a planet that harbours hidden worlds... 29 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,439 ...where, just perhaps, 30 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,917 there may exist a second home for life. 31 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,399 Imagine a place with no surface to stand... 32 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,396 ...just an endless atmosphere. 33 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,396 Compared to Earth, Saturn is so alien that it‘s hard to imagine 34 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,398 how it could have grown from the same ingredients. 35 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,197 But go far enough back in time, 36 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,915 and Saturn would appear to be surprisingly familiar. 37 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,279 Saturn began life as tiny worlds of rock and ice... 38 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,119 ...tumbling chaotically through space. 39 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,151 Just like Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, 40 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:01,478 they began to merge and clump together and grow. 41 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,675 But unlike the planets of the inner solar system, 42 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:18,955 Saturn was forming on the other side of a boundary we call the snow line. 43 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,592 A place where the Sun is so distant, and it‘s so cold 44 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,315 water exists only in its frozen solid state. 45 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:39,393 Out here, trillions of particles of ice behave just like rock, 46 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,354 providing huge amounts of extra planetaw building material. 47 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:50,993 Under the force of gravity, 48 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,511 this abundant ice and rock collided and combined... 49 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,830 ...helping the young Saturn to grow into a giant. 50 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,908 The details of how the planets formed in the solar system 51 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:23,553 is not fully understood. 52 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:25,591 It‘s cutting-edge scientific research. 53 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:27,756 I mean, we're talking about events that happened 54 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,599 over 4.5 billion years ago. 55 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:35,919 But it seems likely that Saturn was once a world of rock and ice, 56 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,669 perhaps 10 or even 20 times the mass of the Earth. 57 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,473 It‘s almost possible, in your dreams, 58 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,433 to imagine standing on its surface. 59 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,678 But because of its immense mass and its place in the solar system, 60 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,759 Saturn didn't remain a rocky, icy world for long. 61 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,994 As it grew older, Saturn became a radically different kind of planet. 62 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,239 In the region in which the young world was forming, 63 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,433 there was more than just ice and rock - there were large amounts of gas. 64 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,318 And Saturn began to gain an atmosphere... 65 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,389 ...but on a scale unlike anything we experience here on Earth. 66 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,190 It‘s not until you see the Earth's atmosphere from space 67 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,756 that you appreciate just how thin it really is. 68 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:57,076 And it‘s a similar story 69 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,316 for the other worlds of the inner solar system. 70 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,238 Despite being relatively thin, 71 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,200 on the planetary surfaces beneath. 72 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,920 On Earth, you can see the effects of an atmosphere 73 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:42,474 with nothing more than a sealed container. 74 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,830 It's easy to forget that the atmosphere has a weight. 75 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:54,273 There's a column of air stretching up about 100 kilometres above my head. 76 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,551 That's a lot of molecules, and it exerts a pressure. 77 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,594 You really see it if you look at what happens to this bottle. 78 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,871 We filled it with air from the top of the mountain, 79 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:08,718 which is about 3,000 metres. 80 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,799 Now, up there, the atmosphere is about 25% less dense 81 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,673 than it is down there, at sea level. 82 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:17,552 So, as we descend, 83 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,195 the atmospheric pressure outside is increasing, 84 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:22,719 and the pressure in here 85 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,513 is just what it was at the top of the mountain, 86 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,996 and so you see, visually, that force in action, 87 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:33,557 and that is squashing the bottle. 88 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:35,557 Physics in action. 89 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:37,238 It's brilliant, innit? 90 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,790 While just a few hundred metres of atmosphere can crush a bottle... 91 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:49,870 ...if an atmosphere gets big enough, 92 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,195 it can transform an entire planet. 93 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,319 Within just a few million years of its birth... 94 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:10,635 ...Saturn had grown as large as it could from rock and ice alone. 95 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,515 And now it turned to another building material - 96 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,589 the hydrogen and helium gas left over from the formation of the Sun. 97 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:30,790 This gas would have been too light 98 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,593 for the smallerworlds of the inner solar system to hold on to. 99 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,514 But Saturn's great mass created gravitational forces 100 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:40,676 powerful enough to draw it in. 101 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:49,790 Trillions upon trillions of tonnes of hydrogen and helium gas 102 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,753 began to envelop the planet. 103 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,870 And as this new atmosphere grew, it transformed the surface below. 104 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:12,229 Enormous pressures, created by the weight of this gas, 105 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,157 heated rock and ice so much... 106 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:17,638 ...they began to glow. 107 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:23,513 As Saturn matured, the pressure at the surface 108 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,758 rose to ten million times the atmospheric pressure on Earth. 109 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:31,634 At those kind of pressures, matter behaves in extremely strange ways. 110 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,719 The very idea of a surface becomes meaningless, 111 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,230 and Saturn was transformed from an icy, rocky world 112 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,751 into a completely different class of planet - a gas giant. 113 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:59,190 Saturn was now so big it could contain nearly 5,000 Earth-sized worlds. 114 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,120 But this vast, wild proto-planet 115 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,437 was totally unlike the Saturn we see today. 116 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,236 To discover how that world emerged, 117 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:18,069 we had to send spacecraft to meet it close up. 118 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,959 COMMS: We have ignition, and we have liftoff of the Wan-Centaur, 119 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,469 carrying the first of two Voyagerspacecraft 120 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:38,799 to extend man 's senses farther into the solar system than ever before. 121 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,316 Reports coming back indicate those twin large solid motors 122 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,355 are functioning perfectly, producing 7.2 million tonnes of thrust each. 123 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:15,675 The guidance data coming back shows that we 're right on the money. 124 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,591 NEWS REPORT: It's there! 125 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,119 (curt/ewe) 126 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,470 Voyager 2 has reached Saturn after four years in space. 127 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,957 It got there just a bit early, 2.7 seconds early, to be exact, 128 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,833 after a flight of i .25 billion miles. 129 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:00,028 BRIAN COX: The Voyager probes gave us our first detailed look at Saturn, 130 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,516 revealing the planet in exquisite resolution. 131 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,516 There '5 just an amazing harvest of pictures. 132 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:14,030 You know, there '5 tens of thousands of photographs of Saturn 133 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,914 and its rings and its moons taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. 134 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,911 BRIAN COX: For the very first time, 135 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:27,477 we were able to study Saturn's vast atmosphere in detail. 136 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:34,629 MAN: Saturn itself is composed of hydrogen and helium. 137 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,078 And we are seeing an exotic meteorology here. 138 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:49,793 BRIAN COX: Voyager showed beyond doubt that Saturn's upper atmosphere 139 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,230 was made almost entirely of helium and hydrogen... 140 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,833 ...the very same gasses so abundant in the early solar system. 141 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:12,400 But this once-chaotic gas was now organised into intricate weather systems. 142 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,473 And one above all others took the Voyager team by surprise. 143 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,318 A huge hexagonal structure in the clouds, 144 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:31,560 so big it could fit our entire planet within it nearly four times over. 145 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:38,469 The atmosphere of Saturn was revealing itself to be stranger 146 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,751 and more dynamic than we could ever have imagined. 147 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,434 Atmospheres are some of the most spectacular 148 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,358 and complex planetary environments. 149 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,270 PILOT: Not many people see the Alps like this. Seriously. 150 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,753 It's just so great! 151 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,270 I was afraid that you'd just get, you know, too sick, or something. 152 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,868 It‘s awesome! Man! 153 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,479 It‘s fun, man. 154 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:30,999 (BRIAN LAUGHS) 155 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:32,394 This isfun! 156 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,190 The atmosphere of eveni planet takes on its own unique character. 157 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,989 But what powers them and the weather systems within 158 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,078 depends on where you are in the solar system. 159 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,396 Most of the weather on the Earth is driven by the heat of the Sun. 160 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,158 It heats the ground up, down there, 161 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,558 and that in turn heats the air up close to the ground, makes it expand. 162 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,559 That means that the air becomes less dense and the hot air rises. 163 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:09,477 That means you get thermals, 164 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,639 so energetic movements of air from the ground into the upper atmosphere, 165 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,718 and that‘s what we're exploiting now...to glide. 166 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:32,112 So all this beautiful weather is driven by the Sun heating the land 167 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,117 and causing airto move around. 168 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:37,953 So we're sailing around. 169 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,756 Sailing around in a turbulent, moving ocean of air. 170 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,353 But travel further out into the solar system, 171 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:57,314 and the driving forces within an atmosphere must change. 172 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:03,398 Now, there‘s been weather on Saturn for over 4 billion years. 173 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,590 But Saturn is a long way from the Sun, 174 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,554 and so those weather systems are not primarily driven by the Sun's heat. 175 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,199 And yet, the storms on Saturn are amongst the most violent 176 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,595 found anywhere in the solar system. 177 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:32,789 With sunlight almost 100 times weaker on Saturn than it is here on Earth... 178 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,195 ...it means something else is helping drive its weather... 179 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,514 ...and the huge complex forms that arise in its atmosphere. 180 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,152 By studying the cloud tops of Saturn and its great storm systems... 181 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,317 ...we can now infer a great deal 182 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,398 about the strange world that lies beneath... 183 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,515 ...and the energy source that helps power this planet. 184 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,075 Below the upper atmosphere, 185 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,316 great clouds of water grow. 186 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:47,597 Lightning 10,000 times more powerful than on Earth illuminates the sky. 187 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:08,716 This lightning transforms methane gas into huge clouds of soot. 188 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,552 Deeper still, the pressures grow so great 189 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:27,550 that these chunks of soot are likely transformed into diamonds. 190 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:40,119 But even these diamonds will succumb to the pressures of Saturn... 191 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,800 ...eventually liquefying. 192 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,119 It's not until 40,000 kilometres down 193 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,028 that the major source of Saturn's energy is revealed. 194 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,149 Here, pressures are so intense 195 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,829 gasses behave like liquid metal. 196 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,270 Molten helium falls like rain through hydrogen... 197 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,958 ...and releases incredible amounts of heat. 198 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:30,275 And we think that this is the extraordinary heat source 199 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,551 that has been helping to drive Saturn's weather. 200 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,270 Within just a few hundred million years of its birth, 201 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,675 Saturn had lived a life of drama. 202 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,276 Now it remained largely unchanged for billions of years, 203 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,949 although still very different from the planet we know today. 204 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,150 But in time, it's great size would lead 205 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,670 to one more iconic transformation. 206 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,633 Saturn is a planet defined by its rings. 207 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,594 If you get a child to draw a planet, and quite a lot of the time 208 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,029 they'll draw something that looks like Saturn. 209 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,631 Now, close up, they are almost impossibly delicate and intricate. 210 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,638 They're made up of trillions of ice crystals, 211 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,910 most of them no bigger than snowflakes, 212 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,918 but some of them as large as houses. 213 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,635 Now, if you look through a telescope, they're highly reflective. 214 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:05,470 They reflect sunlight back just as powerfully as the planet itself. 215 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,194 But that raises an interesting question 216 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,312 because the solar system is full of dust. 217 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,228 Any ice crystals that hang around for any amount of time 218 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:18,670 will get dirty, and so they won't reflect sunlight back, 219 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,472 they won't be as bright. 220 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:26,516 So the question is, why, then, are Saturn's rings so reflective? 221 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,195 The answer came from one of the most audacious 222 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:37,029 and successful missions to the outer solar system. 223 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,869 COMMS: Five, four, three, two, 224 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,231 one...and liftoff of the Cassini spacecraft 225 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:46,749 on a billion-mile trip to Saturn. 226 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,716 We have cleared the tower. 227 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,308 T plus 20 seconds, all systems are go. 228 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,319 BRIAN COX: The Cassini probe was designed to study Saturn and its moons 229 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,194 and rings up close, to shed new light on their origins. 230 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,914 COMMS: All systems continuing to be go. 231 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,917 BRIAN COX: But whereas the Voyager probes 232 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,508 had spent only days at Saturn as they sped by, 233 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,030 Cassini was built to enter Saturnian orbit... 234 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,958 COMMS: Solid rocket boosters have been jettisoned 235 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,038 Velocity 4, 3 78mph. 236 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,833 BRIAN COX: ...and explore the system toryears. 237 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,875 Many times more massive than Voyager, 238 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,710 Cassini had to take a different route to enter orbit around Saturn. 239 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,719 To conserve fuel, it flew by multiple planets, 240 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,912 slingshotting past them to pick up speed 241 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,033 and change direction over the course of seven years. 242 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,919 As Cassini finally approached its target, 243 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,511 it was travelling at almost 100,000 kilometres per hour 244 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,189 and had to slow itself with exquisite precision. 245 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:20,673 COMMS 1: Flight to telecom. 246 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,199 COMMS 2: Go ahead 247 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,356 COMMS 1 : The Doppler has flattened out. 248 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,232 (carrier/vs) 249 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,070 BRIAN COX: After its 3.5-billion-kilometrejourney, 250 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,557 Cassini was now able to see Saturn's rings like never before. 251 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,238 What‘s more, during its long stay at Saturn, 252 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:07,276 Cassini would be able to take physical samples for the vew first time. 253 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:26,748 By measuring the way 254 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,394 that the dust from the solar system falls onto the rings, 255 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,956 Cassini made a startling discovery. 256 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,271 If the rings had been around Saturn for billions of years, 257 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,154 they should have been darkened and dimmed by the dust. 258 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,514 But they are pristine and bright. 259 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,277 And the reason is because they are young. 260 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,994 Nearly 4.5 billion years younger than Saturn itself. 261 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:20,598 The mystery of the origin of the rings is an active area of research. 262 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:24,031 And the evidence that Cassini delivered 263 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,358 hints that the solution lies not with planet itself 264 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:34,919 but with the worlds trapped in orbit around it - Saturn's moons. 265 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,676 Saturn has 62 large moons and countless smaller ones. 266 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,199 We‘re still discovering them. 267 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,756 So it's like a mini solar system in itself. 268 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,634 And those moons range in size from planetary-size objects, like Titan, 269 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,116 to small, irregular-shaped lumps of rock. 270 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,791 And there's so much diversity in size and form and surface features 271 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,434 that the whole system is like a history book, 272 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:04,118 and if we learn to read it, 273 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:09,598 then we see that Saturn has had a very violent and changeable past. 274 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:11,278 Look at this. This is Mimas, 275 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,075 which is often called the Death Star moon for obvious reasons. 276 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,033 It has this huge impact crater, 277 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,675 which tells you that once, long ago, 278 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:23,392 there was a very violent impact 279 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,637 that almost, but not quite, destroyed the moon. 280 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,316 And this is Iapetus. 281 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:31,919 It's a very large moon, 282 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:33,268 almost planetary size. 283 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,472 It's about 1,500 kilometres across. 284 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:41,276 And half of it is white and half of it is dark. 285 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,478 Iapetus also has another distinctive feature, 286 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,830 which is this ridge all the way around the equator. 287 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,918 And you can see the scale of it from this photograph. 288 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,270 And this is clearly visible. 289 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,597 It‘s one of the highest mountain ranges in the solar system - 290 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,190 20 kilometres from peak to the ground below. 291 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,710 And it's thought that this formed 292 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,958 because a ring that was once around the moon - 293 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,959 just liked Saturn's rings - collapsed onto its surface. 294 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,153 As Cassini continued its journey, 295 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:32,593 it revealed in detail multiple moons made almost entirely of ice. 296 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,474 And many of them had taken on extraordinary forms 297 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,114 in and around the rings. 298 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,674 As Cassini analysed the ice moons in ever greater detail, 299 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,597 it became apparent that many of them 300 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:13,317 were made of exactly the same material as the rings themselves. 301 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:21,233 The rings and moons were profoundly linked. 302 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,910 But for all the moons that Cassini saw, 303 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,033 it now seemed likely that one was missing. 304 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,031 When dinosaurs roamed the Earth, 305 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:57,473 we now suspect Saturn had a moon in orbit that no longer exists. 306 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:07,799 A moon perhaps 400 kilometres across and formed almost entirely of ice. 307 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,511 But this world was doomed. 308 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,835 It found itself orbiting too close 309 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,475 to resist the immense forces of Saturn's gravity. 310 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:38,952 Gravity is the sculptor of the Saturnian system, 311 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,789 but also the instigator of change within it. 312 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,357 We tend to think of gravity as a force that pulls things together, 313 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,552 but it can also act to rip things apart. 314 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,148 Think about the tides here on Earth. 315 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:57,034 They're caused by the difference in gravitational pull of the Moon 316 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,628 from one side of the Earth to the other. 317 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,639 And that difference, which can be quite subtle, is also powerful. 318 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,992 It can move entire oceans - it's called tidal gravity. 319 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,749 But the Earth also has a tidal effect on the Moon, 320 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:17,159 and because the Earth is an entire planet, that effect is much more powerful. 321 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,433 The pull of the Earth is enough to deform the Moon‘s surface. 322 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,351 The effect was particularly strong 4.5 billion years ago, 323 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,711 when the Moon was nearly 17 times closer. 324 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,519 Back then, the pull from the Earth caused a tide of solid rock 325 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,392 to rise and fall. 326 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,351 If the Moon had ever been any nearer, 327 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,711 it would have crossed what we call the Roche limit, 328 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,469 a place where tidal gravitational forces are so strong 329 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,431 moons can get ripped apart. 330 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,473 The Romans named the planet Saturn after their god of time and harvest, 331 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:16,354 and in one of the more gruesome tales from classical mythology, 332 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,790 Saturn actually ate his newborn babies 333 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,071 in orderto prevent them from taking his power. 334 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,078 What's sort of interesting is that what we‘ve learnt from Cassini 335 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:30,671 is that, at least metaphorically speaking, they weren't tar wrong. 336 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:46,515 just beyond Saturn's atmosphere, 337 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,517 our leading theories suggest 338 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:53,430 an icy moon must have approached close to, or even just inside, 339 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,551 the planet's Roche limit. 340 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,989 As Saturn's immense tidal gravitational forces acted 341 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,588 across the moon, it began to rupture. 342 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,199 Saturn began to devour its child. 343 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:09,553 Up to 15,000 trillion tonnes of ice broke apart in orbit around Saturn. 344 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,596 Because of the speeds the ice fragments were travelling, 345 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:27,870 it‘s likely that in just a few days 346 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,117 they spread out to encircle the great giant. 347 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,554 Saturn‘s iconic ring had been born. 348 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,638 Today, the giant ring has evolved. 349 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,796 Saturn's powerful gravitational field 350 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,515 has helped keep its near-perfect circular shape, 351 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,155 but collisions within have caused it to flatten out. 352 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,190 Now this debris forms a disc wider than jupiter, 353 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,199 yet on average just ten metres thick. 354 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:38,835 Within, moon-sized chunks of ice orbit the structure, 355 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,679 clearing great voids... 356 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:44,758 ...turning one ring... 357 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,151 ...into many. 358 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:58,192 In places, moons have pulled particles of ice upwards 359 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:02,598 to create strange peaks over two kilometres high. 360 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:06,916 And in just the right conditions, 361 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:10,316 they cast spectacular shadows across the rings. 362 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:22,349 This once-tiny world of rock and ice... 363 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:28,472 ...that has undergone so many great transformations... 364 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,750 ...has today become the solar system's jewel. 365 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,070 Cassini had deepened our understanding of the origin 366 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:56,872 and evolution of Saturn. 367 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,110 But its mission was far from over. 368 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:05,512 Becausejust beyond the rings, it discovered another treasure. 369 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:11,031 A place that may hold answers to some of our deepest questions 370 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:39,838 Over a billion kilometres from the warmth of the Sun, 371 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,997 just on the outer edge of Saturn's rings, 372 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,759 lies the icy moon Enceladus. 373 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,796 Enceladus is quite a small moon. 374 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,673 It‘s only about the size of Iceland, actually. 375 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,439 But that does not make it dull. 376 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,870 It is the most reflective object in the solar system. 377 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,754 Over 90% of the light that hits it bounces back, 378 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:08,874 and that‘s because its surface is covered in pure ice. 379 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,798 It's also criss-crossed by crevasses, 380 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:16,232 like this one you see on this glacier, but on a much grander scale. 381 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,638 The largest, known as the tiger stripes, are over 100 kilometres long. 382 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,638 But for all its surface beauty, 383 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:28,880 it's what's going on belowthe ice that makes Enceladus so special. 384 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,273 What we found beneath Enceladus‘s shell of ice 385 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,039 must rank as one of the greatest discoveries 386 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:42,879 in 215t—century space exploration. 387 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:48,438 But it was a discovery that had been hiding in plain sight. 388 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:02,958 This is a photograph taken by Voyager 1 of Enceladus in 1980. 389 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,789 Now, nobody noticed anything remarkable about it at the time, 390 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,514 but this image has been enhanced, 391 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:15,431 and now you can see this sort of misty blob off one side of the moon. 392 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:17,391 Now, that is fascinating. 393 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:22,640 It means something is rising up from inside Enceladus. 394 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,797 Now, when Cassini got back there 24 years later, 395 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:30,948 it saw the same thing, but this time in much more detail. 396 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:35,996 As Cassini approached Enceladus, 397 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,998 the anomaly revealed itself. 398 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:47,068 Giant plumes of water vapour and ice were erupting from its surface. 399 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:55,836 Over 200 kilograms of material was being released evenr second. 400 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,239 It seemed to be feeding one of Saturn's outer rings, 401 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,032 helping to replenish it. 402 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,436 And these discoveries inspired an audacious risk. 403 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,272 Piloted from over a billion kilometres away, 404 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:30,313 Cassini was guided dangerously close to the plumes. 405 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:52,516 The craft passed within just 48 kilometres of the surface of Enceladus... 406 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,632 ...and Cassini was able to touch the plumes. 407 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,676 What we discovered, thanks to a series of these flybys, 408 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:14,677 was breathtaking. 409 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:21,154 The ice in the plumes was actually frozen particles of salty water. 410 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:27,597 We had found a sub-surface ocean leaking into space. 411 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:34,191 Far, far from the Sun, 412 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,836 Enceladus was harbouring an ocean of liquid water, 413 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:42,430 and it was there because of Saturn. 414 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:52,430 Enceladus orbits Saturn in an elliptical orbit, 415 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:58,032 which means the gravitationalforces across the moon are constantly changing. 416 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:06,159 It's maintained in this orbit by the pull of another larger moon, Dione. 417 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:13,235 These ever-shifting gravitational forces stretch and squeeze its heart, 418 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,796 warming and melting its icy interior. 419 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,956 But Cassini's data had one more surprise in store. 420 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:34,718 As the plumes of water ice were analysed in ever-greater detail, 421 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:38,071 we discovered complex organic compounds 422 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,351 and silica particles that could only have come 423 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,074 from hot hydrothermal vents. 424 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:52,232 In the frozen outer reaches of the solar system... 425 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:57,315 ...we had found a warm, watery oasis. 426 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:11,319 Cassini has given us a glimpse beneath the ice of Enceladus, 427 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:15,752 and it is fascinating, genuinely, in a scientific sense, 428 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:18,553 because many biologists believe 429 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:22,036 that hydrothermal vents, like those that are almost certainly present 430 00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,833 on the floor of Enceladus's ocean, 431 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:29,551 See, all the ingredients are present. 432 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,911 There's hot water in touch with ice and minerals. 433 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:35,759 That's a reactive cauldron of chemistw. 434 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:38,189 There are reactive gasses, methane. 435 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,199 Cassini found molecular hydrogen in the plumes, 436 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:46,871 and that was one of the food sources of primitive organisms on Earth. 437 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:49,833 So, there really is a possibility 438 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:54,158 that there is life in orbits around Saturn today. 439 00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:07,030 The prospect of life on Enceladus is exciting, 440 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:08,354 but if it‘s there, 441 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:13,235 it‘s likely to be only the simplest and most primitive of organisms. 442 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:21,789 And given how violent and changeable Saturn's past has been, 443 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:26,710 this world of ice and liquid water may only have arisen relatively recently. 444 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:34,834 Now, we don't know how long Enceladus has been geologically active, 445 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:36,473 how long it's had an ocean. 446 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:40,912 If it's only tens of millions - or even hundreds of millions - of years, 447 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:45,431 that may have not have been enough time for life to get going. 448 00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:50,076 But if there is life there, then we can glimpse its future 449 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:54,352 because there are still hydrothermal vent systems present 450 00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:59,395 on Earth today, and life doesn'tjust survive there, it thrives. 451 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,913 Often found in the deep oceans along fault lines in the Earth‘s crust, 452 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,476 hydrothermal vents are some of the richest 453 00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:28,672 and most complex ecosystems on Earth. 454 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:33,752 Feeding off the abundant bacteria that breed there, 455 00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:38,908 these habitats support a multitude of strange and complex organisms. 456 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:54,556 Whilst creatures like this will never exist on Enceladus, 457 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:56,557 billions of years from now, 458 00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:01,037 it is just possible that this distant world may become home 459 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,913 to its own unique forms of life. 460 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:19,396 But for Cassini, the brave new world under the ice of Enceladus 461 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:21,192 was a bittersweet discovery. 462 00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:38,879 13 years after it arrived at Saturn, 463 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,595 Cassini's fuel finally began to run dry. 464 00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:49,110 NASA couldn't risk letting this probe crash-land on Enceladus 465 00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,437 and contaminate a potential habitat for life. 466 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:56,519 COMMS: Systems, ACS One. We 've just had transition to high-rate mode. 467 00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:04,549 BRIAN COX: And so the decision was made to send Cassini on one tinaljourney. 468 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:12,032 A journey that would take it into the atmosphere of Saturn itself. 469 00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:16,958 Ajourney from which it would never return. 470 00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,595 COMMS 1 : And we are in the atmosphere. 471 00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:29,518 COMMS 2: Radio signal still holding - 3 0 seconds. 472 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:53,636 COMMS 1 : We just heard the signal from the spacecraft is gone, 473 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:56,194 and within the next 45 seconds, 474 00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,072 so will be the spacecraft. 475 00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:03,311 BRIAN COX: The planet that had borne witness 476 00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:06,955 to some of the greatest dramas in the history of the solar system 477 00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:11,551 was now consuming the craft that had told its extraordinary stow. 478 00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:29,880 Cassini and Saturn had now become inseparable companions. 479 00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:57,510 We journeyed out to Saturn to experience and explore this great beauty. 480 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:08,439 But in the end, we were rewarded with insights closer to home. 481 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,753 Cassini and her team of scientists and engineers 482 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,077 should be counted amongst our greatest of explorers. 483 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:26,351 The mission had all the ingredients - a vessel and her crew 484 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,711 drawn by the prospect of beauty and new knowledge 485 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,276 across an un-charted ocean to an alien world, 486 00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,597 and as is so often the case in exploration, 487 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,190 the real treasure was found in the unexpected shadows, 488 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:42,788 in this case, in the shadow of the rings, 489 00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,992 where we found this tiny world, Enceladus, 490 00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:51,319 that may harbour life and provide us with re-assurance that we're not alone 491 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:52,953 in the universe. 492 00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:56,072 See? The beauty is in the story. 493 00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:59,510 Would it matter, really, if we found life on Enceladus? 494 00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:02,313 It would only be microbes after all. 495 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:04,510 Yes, it would matter. 496 00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:07,029 We are at a time in our history, Ithink, 497 00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:10,948 where we need re-assurance, or perhaps a reminder, 498 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:16,950 that there is beauty and knowledge and perhaps even lite and meaning 499 00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:19,196 beyond our shores. 500 00:52:29,720 --> 00:52:33,793 We will, I‘m sure, go back to Saturn and its moons, 501 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,480 explore deeper, stay longer, 502 00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:40,070 and maybe one day even visit ourselves. 503 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:45,875 We don't know what we'll discover, 504 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:50,198 but we can be sure that the story has onlyjust begun. 505 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:22,833 Cassini has been one of the most successful probes ever flown. 506 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:27,630 But constructing a machine that could survive 13 years 507 00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:32,276 in the outer solar system was a huge challenge for everyone involved. 508 00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:36,630 COMMS: Tplus 20 seconds. 509 00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:38,796 Even when they were proposing Cassini, Ithought, 510 00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:40,353 "No, no, this is never going to happen!" 511 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,278 It was, like, maybe too ambitious, or something. 512 00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:51,798 It‘s difficult to put a number on how many people were involved in Cassini. 513 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:55,117 Um, tens of thousands, I would say. 514 00:53:58,040 --> 00:53:59,996 NEW SPEAKER: This is a very, very complex effort. 515 00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:02,350 There's over ten miles of wiring, 516 00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:05,153 and you have to check out every wire. 517 00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:12,516 So it took us two-and-a-half years to put the thing together. 518 00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:20,077 All of us spent a lot of effort to get to that moment, 519 00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:22,634 so there‘s a lot of emotion attached to it. 520 00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:28,357 And then you see it launch, and you know that it's on ajourney 521 00:54:28,480 --> 00:54:31,233 to a very, very distant place. 522 00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:34,470 And so you feel like you're going, too. 523 00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:47,233 BRIAN COX: When Cassini first began to send close-up pictures back to Earth... 524 00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:52,035 ...it was a special moment for the whole team. 525 00:54:57,800 --> 00:55:00,189 I was sitting in what they call the blue room, 526 00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:03,995 being interviewed while they were beaming for the first time, 527 00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:07,317 and then one of these pictures came on, and Ijust went, “Wow, look at that!" 528 00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:11,592 That was really the jumping-out—of-the-chair moment for me. 529 00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:15,798 And it wasjust the first day. 530 00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:21,232 CARL MURRAY: What we were seeing was the highest resolution 531 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:22,509 that had ever been seen. 532 00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:28,917 I saw phenomena that I'd only seen in kind of computer simulations before, 533 00:55:29,040 --> 00:55:31,508 and now I was seeing it for the first time 534 00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:34,029 and realising all this was real. 535 00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:39,238 CAROLYN PORCO: And we were seeing details in the rings 536 00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:43,239 that were shocking. Shocking. 537 00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:47,956 Wejust lacked the imagination that it would require 538 00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:49,911 to predict what it would look like. 539 00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:56,959 For me, when that great backlit picture came out, 540 00:55:57,080 --> 00:55:59,071 that's when it hit, for me. 541 00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:06,040 "Oh, my God, we've done something really unique and wonderful." 542 00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,678 It was like, "This is going to be... This is going to be huge." 543 00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:20,556 BRIAN COX: Over Cassini's 13 years at Saturn, 544 00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:23,877 it explored the planet's incredible storms... 545 00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:27,640 ...the formation of its rings... 546 00:56:29,720 --> 00:56:33,030 ...and discovered the oceans of Enceladus. 547 00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:40,631 But Cassini's greatest insights may be yet to come. 548 00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:44,116 There's such a wealth of information in the data. 549 00:56:44,240 --> 00:56:48,119 I think we've just skimmed the top of the data. 550 00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:52,552 I think people will continue to make discoveries from Cassini data 551 00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:55,752 for another 30 to 40 years. 552 00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,717 BRIAN COX: The data Cassini collected in its final moments 553 00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:04,958 is already changing our understanding of the planet. 554 00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:08,231 It has revealed the rings are disappearing. 555 00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:13,912 As much as 10,000 kilograms of material is falling into the planet each second. 556 00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:19,915 It now seems likely that just 100 million years from now, 557 00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,350 Saturn's great rings will be no more. 558 00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:31,872 Cassini has shown us that we have been uniquely fortunate 559 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,434 to behold this great beauty. 49078

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