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Would you welcome, please, Dr. Carl Sagan.
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Well what's new in space, Carl?
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Think of a civilization
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on a different planet evolved under
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quite different circumstances than here.
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What is their art like, their music?
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Think of how we'd be able to
view ourselves in a new way.
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There's another aspect
to it, too, and that is
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we are at a very dangerous
moment in human history.
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We're in the process of
inadvertently altering our climate
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and exhaustion of fossil
fuels, all kinds of problems
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which come with technology.
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Is it true that all television radio shows
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that are sent out travel
forever through the void?
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Yep, they do, signals that are sent out,
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including this program.
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Here's a look at our seven-day forecast
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for the beaches, the
valleys, and the metro area.
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Take a look at that, 70s, 80s,
and valleys next weekend...
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I would come to
your home every single week,
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to teach you how to cook.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
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please welcome our next bachelor, Peter!
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Argue that a lack of genetic diversity,
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naturally occurring pests and the rigors of
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being trucked from crop to crop
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could all be to blame
for the death of bees.
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The Brazilian government decided that
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saving a rainforest should take a back seat
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to their economic development.
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Marches occurred one week
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after the earth day marches for science,
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which has demanded respect for
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fact-based, scientific research.
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The Committee on Science,
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Space and Technology will come to order.
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Welcome to today's hearing titled
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"The Search for Biosignatures
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in our Solar System and beyond."
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Do you think there's life out there?
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And are they studying us and
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what do they think about New York City?
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Well, let me just say that
in our own Milky Way Galaxy
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there are a hundred billion
stars and we now believe
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in our universe we have more than
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a hundred billion galaxies.
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So if you just do the math, the
chance that there's a planet
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like earth out there with
life on it is very high.
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I just want you to speculate.
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Do you think, in what timeframe might we
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expect to find some evidence of, say,
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microbial life elsewhere in the universe?
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I always like to start by saying
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scientists never like to speculate.
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We always like facts.
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But they always do.
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But we always do, correct.
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So we now finally know that
exoplanets exist and are common
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but on the other side lies the possibility
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to find the true earths with signs of life.
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The point I want to make
is this is the first time
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in human history we have
the technological reach
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to cross the great threshold
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with the James Webb Space Telescope.
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Most optimistic, then, next 5 to 10 years?
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Yes, the most optimistic
is within a decade.
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Okay.
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Slow down, slow down.
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Slow down, slow.
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Got it.
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Keep pushing.
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Good speed, guys, good speed.
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Someone telling us where to stop?
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This is the largest space telescope
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humanity has ever conceived of.
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We're never done anything this
audacious in space before.
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We have a thousand people
working on this project right now.
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If it works, it's going
to see deeper into space
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than any other telescope in history.
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This is the largest mission,
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non-human space flight
that NASA has ever done.
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It looks at areas that
the Hubble could never see.
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The James Webb Space Telescope certainly is
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the most complex telescope
anyone's ever built.
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This is a chance to measure myself
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against one of the hardest problems
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man has set himself the goal to do.
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This is the huge eye in the
sky and it's going to capture
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the very first light of the universe.
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We're going to test it.
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We're going to pack it up
in a rocket, shoot it out
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and we don't know what we're going to find.
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But the slightest thing that could go wrong
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could actually mean
this mission could fail.
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So you've loved astronomy
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since you were a kid, right?
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Yeah, I got into it as a child.
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My dad won a cottage in a crap game.
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The attraction of going down there
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and having these light pollution-free skies
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and seeing the summer Milky Way,
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you know, the odd satellite.
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And I was old enough to be around when
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Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
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That made a big impression on you?
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Yeah, that whole space race
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and the fact that we
stepped on another planet.
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That we left this earth and all that.
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Yeah, it left a huge impression on me.
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How do you think
the seeing will be tonight?
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It's supposed to clear up later.
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I don't know if the transparency
is going to get any better.
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Hopefully we can see something.
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You know, I think everyone
is intrigued by astronomy
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because it's about the big questions.
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Where did we come from?
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How did the universe begin?
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Are we alone?
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An amazing thing right now
is that we're on the verge
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of really being able to
answer these questions.
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It's an exciting time.
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It's still mind boggling.
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You're involved now with looking for
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extraterrestrial intelligence, right?
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How do you go about looking?
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Why do children learn how to walk?
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I don't know, I mean, they just do.
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They're driven somehow by
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a force inside of them
that they can't identify.
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I don't know why I'm doing this.
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I just feel compelled to go forward.
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When I was a small child,
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I went with my dad on a camping trip.
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It was his first and last camping trip.
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But fortunately, you
know, he made it happen.
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And I remember waking up
in the middle of the night
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and stepping outside
the tent and I looked up
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and it was my first ever
view of a truly dark sky.
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And I saw so many stars.
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I went, "Wow."
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I had never imagined that was possible.
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I couldn't even count them.
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And they were so bright.
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And a little later my father
took me to a star party
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and I remember looking at
the moon through a telescope
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and I went, "Wow."
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I couldn't believe that
the moon that I had seen
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so many times actually had craters on it.
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I saw an unbelievable amount of detail.
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I just didn't know it existed.
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And at some point I realized,
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I don't know how I had the
foresight at a young age,
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but I thought, "You know I'm
not going to study physics,
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I'm not going to be a doctor
like my father wanted me to be.
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I'm going to apply for
graduate school in astronomy."
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Great. - It's called Fernando.
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Wow, I didn't even realize
it was this portable.
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We're going to move it into the dark room.
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I started out working on exoplanets.
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You mean not
Jupiter, Venus, Mars, et cetera?
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Yes, planets orbiting a
star other than our sun.
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What's so cool is you can
build your own space satellite.
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At the time, people really didn't
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think that was a good idea.
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People would come up to me and say,
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"You can talk to my advisor.
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He thinks exoplanets are nothing.
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You shouldn't be doing
this, he'll tell you."
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Professors would say,
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"Look, I see people are finding planets.
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I kind of believe them but we'll never
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be able to study their atmospheres."
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And when I was on the job
market as a junior faculty
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there was one single
transiting planet known.
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HD-209458B.
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And they'd say, "Look, Sarah,
I get there's this one object.
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I think it's a one object,
one method, success.
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I don't know if this field's
going to go anywhere."
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Hey!
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The Webb Telescope is a hundred times
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more powerful than Hubble.
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The telescopes keep getting bigger because
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the bigger the telescope
the better the resolution.
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You know, we wouldn't have built a
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telescope this big unless we needed to.
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And you need to build a telescope this big
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if you want to look at the very dimmest,
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most earliest galaxies in the universe.
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The James Webb Space Telescope
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is not just a machine built by engineers
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and scientists to look out to the universe.
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it's taking humanity on a journey.
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We're going to enter a completely new
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part of observational space
where we've never trod before.
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And every time we've done this as a species
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we've discovered new things.
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We have just received the 18 hexagons that
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make up the big mirror that collects
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the starlight and focuses it on the camera.
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Gold has very unique properties
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in terms of reflecting infrared light.
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And this is an infrared telescope.
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So that's why we choose gold.
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I think people want us
to build this telescope
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because they want to know how we got here.
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I want to know how we got here.
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You know, we started
the James Webb Telescope
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to look at the cosmos
and the early universe
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but we've discovered that
it's so much more powerful.
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that it can do new things.
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And we're seeing teams
of people led by women
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taking that scientific
direction somewhere else.
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Taking it to try and understand,
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could there possibly be life out there.
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Do you have any estimate for
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how many nights you spent
up at the Crocker Dome?
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Oh my gosh, between 2000 and 2003
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we spent so many nights up here.
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And it's quite remote, right?
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That's the thing, there's no bathroom.
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Right - There's no internet.
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There were so many
creatures along this path.
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When I started in the late 1990s
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we were trying to find planets using
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this small telescope
up at Lick Observatory.
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We were using this new technique.
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It had never been done before.
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And people were very skeptical.
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In fact, the whole thing was
built on a shoestring budget.
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But it was so compelling
to work on a project
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that had the possibility of detecting
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an Earth-like planet in the future.
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I do remember this padlock.
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Yeah.
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Is it possible to get in?
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No, unfortunately I don't
have the key right now.
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- Oh.
- I wasn't prepared.
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All of the instruments
have been taken out, right?
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Yeah, there's nothing in there
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It's just some empty shelves.
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This is not the astronomer's
ideal weather conditions.
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Isn't this a way to understand
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why we had to go to space?
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You know, to find planets,
you need to stare unblinkingly.
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So besides the fact that the
sun gets in our way sometimes,
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we have day, the weather does too.
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So no observations are
going to be done tonight.
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You spent a lot of years
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up here at Lick looking for exoplanets.
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Did you find any?
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We found hundreds of
periodic dimmings of light,
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but none of them turned
out to be bonafide planets.
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The analogy I'd like to use
is to imagine a skyscraper
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80 stories high in New York City,
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and you've got all of these
windows and it's nighttime.
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All the windows are illuminated.
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And one person goes to one window
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00:12:50,504 --> 00:12:53,404
and lowers the blinds
by about a centimeter.
259
00:12:55,108 --> 00:12:57,742
That's the change in brightness
we had to be able to detect.
260
00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:05,164
In the beginning, it was a lonely field.
261
00:13:05,184 --> 00:13:06,484
Very few planets were known.
262
00:13:08,254 --> 00:13:11,437
Months would go by and not a
new planet would be discovered.
263
00:13:11,457 --> 00:13:14,440
Nevertheless, I knew the field
would explode and I'd say,
264
00:13:14,460 --> 00:13:15,575
"Look, I know there's going to be
265
00:13:15,595 --> 00:13:17,110
so many planets transiting we're
266
00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:18,778
not gonna be able to count them all.
267
00:13:18,798 --> 00:13:20,514
And they'd be, "No, I don't believe it."
268
00:13:20,534 --> 00:13:22,115
And so they didn't believe
it, they didn't hire me.
269
00:13:22,135 --> 00:13:24,317
And then came Kepler.
270
00:13:24,337 --> 00:13:27,521
Three, two, one, zero.
271
00:13:27,541 --> 00:13:31,190
And liftoff of the Delta
2 Rocket with Kepler
272
00:13:31,210 --> 00:13:33,178
on a search for planets like our own.
273
00:13:36,950 --> 00:13:38,531
The Kepler Space Telescope
274
00:13:38,551 --> 00:13:40,385
monitored one small section of the sky
275
00:13:41,821 --> 00:13:43,521
and it found thousands of planets.
276
00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:48,393
Another Earth is undoubtedly out there.
277
00:13:50,029 --> 00:13:51,210
In our own Milky Way Galaxy we have
278
00:13:51,230 --> 00:13:52,812
hundreds of billions of stars.
279
00:13:52,832 --> 00:13:55,882
Our own universe has hundreds
of billions of galaxies.
280
00:13:55,902 --> 00:13:58,169
To me personally, it is definitely there.
281
00:14:02,375 --> 00:14:03,489
Oh there you are.
282
00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:04,758
There you are.
283
00:14:04,778 --> 00:14:06,092
Good morning everyone, sorry I'm late.
284
00:14:06,112 --> 00:14:07,560
Hey, Natalie.
285
00:14:07,580 --> 00:14:08,694
We have a good group in the room today.
286
00:14:08,714 --> 00:14:10,363
All right.
287
00:14:10,383 --> 00:14:12,365
Well, the last few meetings we've had
288
00:14:12,385 --> 00:14:14,434
one planet candidate in each batch.
289
00:14:14,454 --> 00:14:15,769
Yeah.
290
00:14:15,789 --> 00:14:16,702
We rely on a few core experts.
291
00:14:16,722 --> 00:14:18,638
Natalie's one of them.
292
00:14:18,658 --> 00:14:21,174
Natalie was one of the
leaders of the Kepler mission.
293
00:14:21,194 --> 00:14:23,176
Kepler was so pioneering.
294
00:14:23,196 --> 00:14:25,378
It opened our eyes for the first time.
295
00:14:25,398 --> 00:14:27,180
And TESS is now just finding objects
296
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,001
around closer stars and
smaller stars as well.
297
00:14:31,270 --> 00:14:31,785
Okay.
298
00:14:31,805 --> 00:14:33,919
Okay.
299
00:14:33,939 --> 00:14:35,655
How are you detecting these exoplanets?
300
00:14:35,675 --> 00:14:37,723
Well, nowadays, the
best way to find planets
301
00:14:37,743 --> 00:14:39,192
is by the transit technique.
302
00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:42,262
If this represents our star and this blue
303
00:14:42,282 --> 00:14:45,799
represents a planet, if you're lucky,
304
00:14:45,819 --> 00:14:47,667
the planet will orbit such that it
305
00:14:47,687 --> 00:14:50,870
passes in front of the star
as seen from the telescope.
306
00:14:50,890 --> 00:14:53,024
Then the starlight drops by a tiny amount.
307
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:56,880
Thousands of planets have
been detected this way.
308
00:14:58,498 --> 00:15:01,681
They range from smaller than
Earth size to Jupiter size.
309
00:15:01,701 --> 00:15:03,549
So Aylin showed me this one yesterday.
310
00:15:03,569 --> 00:15:05,151
I like this one.
311
00:15:05,171 --> 00:15:06,686
Look how long the transit duration is, too.
312
00:15:06,706 --> 00:15:08,221
This one also has century offset.
313
00:15:08,241 --> 00:15:10,156
We're hoping to find and identify
314
00:15:10,176 --> 00:15:11,624
the pool of transiting planets
315
00:15:11,644 --> 00:15:14,160
in the habitable zones of small stars.
316
00:15:14,180 --> 00:15:17,563
Not too hot, not too cold,
but just right for life.
317
00:15:17,583 --> 00:15:19,232
The Goldilocks zone.
318
00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:20,500
Onto the next one.
319
00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:21,968
Next one looks great.
320
00:15:21,988 --> 00:15:24,170
One system that had two
viable planet candidates
321
00:15:24,190 --> 00:15:26,172
that were very exciting, so it was super...
322
00:15:26,192 --> 00:15:27,640
So you want to study these candidates
323
00:15:27,660 --> 00:15:29,242
with the James Webb Space Telescope?
324
00:15:29,262 --> 00:15:30,510
Yeah.
325
00:15:30,530 --> 00:15:32,312
Actually the question often comes up.
326
00:15:32,332 --> 00:15:34,648
How much time are we going
to get for exoplanets?
327
00:15:34,668 --> 00:15:38,384
You know, if we find a rocky
planet with a thin atmosphere
328
00:15:38,404 --> 00:15:40,786
in the habitable zone of an
M star, do you have any idea
329
00:15:40,806 --> 00:15:42,321
how much telescope time we're going to need
330
00:15:42,341 --> 00:15:43,789
to look at that planet's atmosphere?
331
00:15:43,809 --> 00:15:45,258
We have five more to go, or six.
332
00:15:45,278 --> 00:15:46,792
Yeah, let's kill it.
333
00:15:46,812 --> 00:15:48,594
Given that our own atmosphere
334
00:15:48,614 --> 00:15:51,664
contains thousands of gases,
we expect alien atmospheres
335
00:15:51,684 --> 00:15:53,933
to also contain thousands of gases.
336
00:15:53,953 --> 00:15:56,802
And my job is to figure out
how each one of those gases
337
00:15:56,822 --> 00:16:01,274
interacts with light. And
some molecules, like oxygen,
338
00:16:01,294 --> 00:16:05,611
we send out into space, life
does, but other things do too.
339
00:16:05,631 --> 00:16:08,748
Some molecules, like phosphine, only life
340
00:16:08,768 --> 00:16:11,217
sends out into the atmosphere.
341
00:16:11,237 --> 00:16:14,153
And so this is one of the
reasons I'm so fond of it
342
00:16:14,173 --> 00:16:17,608
because although it's rare,
and actually quite poisonous,
343
00:16:18,711 --> 00:16:21,094
only life makes it on Earth.
344
00:16:21,114 --> 00:16:25,550
And so it's an unequivocal sign of life.
345
00:16:27,186 --> 00:16:28,701
My generation, we're betting on
346
00:16:28,721 --> 00:16:30,636
the fact that nature delivers.
347
00:16:30,656 --> 00:16:34,173
That life can originate and
evolve anywhere given the chance
348
00:16:34,193 --> 00:16:35,641
and we're planning on finding it.
349
00:16:35,661 --> 00:16:36,928
There's no question.
350
00:16:49,008 --> 00:16:50,523
At some point you build a telescope
351
00:16:50,543 --> 00:16:52,058
that's too big to fit in a rocket
352
00:16:52,078 --> 00:16:54,727
and James Webb would not fit in a rocket.
353
00:16:54,747 --> 00:16:55,929
So we had to make the primary mirror
354
00:16:55,949 --> 00:16:57,530
into individual segments.
355
00:16:57,550 --> 00:17:01,334
It's been done on the
ground once or twice but
356
00:17:01,354 --> 00:17:03,603
doing it in space as a whole
other set of challenges.
357
00:17:03,623 --> 00:17:05,405
Is it going to hold, is it
going to keep it strength?
358
00:17:05,425 --> 00:17:07,759
Is it going to keep its
alignment, will it deploy?
359
00:17:11,831 --> 00:17:14,480
This is a worldwide telescope.
360
00:17:14,500 --> 00:17:17,483
It's the collective investment from the US
361
00:17:17,503 --> 00:17:21,220
and the European Space Agency
and the Canadian Space Agency,
362
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,157
that all these countries
are willing to make,
363
00:17:24,177 --> 00:17:26,677
to reach the edge of the universe.
364
00:17:28,181 --> 00:17:29,747
Separating from the upper stage.
365
00:17:30,850 --> 00:17:31,765
Separating.
366
00:17:31,785 --> 00:17:34,033
We're going to L2.
367
00:17:34,053 --> 00:17:35,969
The stakes are tremendous.
368
00:17:35,989 --> 00:17:39,172
If you think back to Mars
Science Lab, Curiosity.
369
00:17:39,192 --> 00:17:41,106
That seven minutes of terror waiting for it
370
00:17:41,126 --> 00:17:43,977
to get to the surface, we
were all holding our breath.
371
00:17:43,997 --> 00:17:45,244
I didn't hold it for seven minutes
372
00:17:45,264 --> 00:17:47,046
but I held it for a long time
373
00:17:47,066 --> 00:17:49,515
waiting for that signal
back from the surface.
374
00:17:49,535 --> 00:17:51,584
In this case we're going
to hold out breaths
375
00:17:51,604 --> 00:17:54,320
for a couple of weeks,
because that's how long
376
00:17:54,340 --> 00:17:55,721
it's gonna take to get all those
377
00:17:55,741 --> 00:17:58,057
deployments out after launch.
378
00:17:58,077 --> 00:17:59,859
Adding whatever Delta V we need.
379
00:17:59,879 --> 00:18:02,996
There are over 300 or 400
380
00:18:03,016 --> 00:18:05,731
different operations that
have to occur in space
381
00:18:05,751 --> 00:18:09,002
to make this telescope
actually come to life.
382
00:18:09,022 --> 00:18:11,404
A huge sunshade has to deploy,
383
00:18:11,424 --> 00:18:13,739
which is the size of a tennis court.
384
00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:15,475
At this point, things get pretty critical
385
00:18:15,495 --> 00:18:16,942
because now everything
starts to cool quickly.
386
00:18:16,962 --> 00:18:18,944
Follow the red for maximum power.
387
00:18:18,964 --> 00:18:20,814
So now we've got to
get the telescope unfolded
388
00:18:20,834 --> 00:18:23,101
before it gets too cold
and the joints freeze up.
389
00:18:24,637 --> 00:18:26,619
Then we got to get the instruments started.
390
00:18:26,639 --> 00:18:28,087
And each one of these things
391
00:18:28,107 --> 00:18:30,808
has to work perfectly first time.
392
00:18:35,715 --> 00:18:36,629
Hello?
393
00:18:36,649 --> 00:18:37,763
Hi, how are you?
394
00:18:37,783 --> 00:18:39,232
Good.
395
00:18:39,252 --> 00:18:40,566
So about the James Webb, what's new?
396
00:18:40,586 --> 00:18:41,701
What's the latest going on?
397
00:18:41,721 --> 00:18:42,768
It's very exciting.
398
00:18:42,788 --> 00:18:44,503
Lots of things.
399
00:18:44,523 --> 00:18:46,972
The spacecraft structure is
moving along like gangbusters.
400
00:18:46,992 --> 00:18:49,575
We're making the flight membranes.
401
00:18:49,595 --> 00:18:51,044
Pathfinder is delivered.
402
00:18:51,064 --> 00:18:53,512
So basically, it's almost all the balls
403
00:18:53,532 --> 00:18:54,714
are in the air at this point.
404
00:18:54,734 --> 00:18:56,515
Sometimes we hear rumors
405
00:18:56,535 --> 00:18:58,384
of something that's not going so well.
406
00:18:58,404 --> 00:18:59,853
Is there anything like that
that you're worried about,
407
00:18:59,873 --> 00:19:01,520
you personally, or is it all under control?
408
00:19:01,540 --> 00:19:03,856
There are always little problems.
409
00:19:03,876 --> 00:19:04,858
Nothing insurmountable.
410
00:19:04,878 --> 00:19:06,526
Yeah.
411
00:19:06,546 --> 00:19:08,127
The thing that keeps me up at night
412
00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:10,263
and prevents my hair from growing back
413
00:19:10,283 --> 00:19:13,599
is the problem we haven't thought of.
414
00:19:13,619 --> 00:19:15,935
That failure of imagination.
415
00:19:15,955 --> 00:19:20,339
Right now we're on schedule
and making flight hardware.
416
00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:21,941
Well, it's so great to hear that
417
00:19:21,961 --> 00:19:23,409
because the entire science community,
418
00:19:23,429 --> 00:19:25,611
you know, in exoplanets,
is ramping up here.
419
00:19:25,631 --> 00:19:27,346
Everybody's so excited
about the James Webb.
420
00:19:27,366 --> 00:19:28,948
But I don't know if you realize
421
00:19:28,968 --> 00:19:30,816
how much they're counting on this.
422
00:19:30,836 --> 00:19:33,953
I'm aware that my
customers are very anxious
423
00:19:33,973 --> 00:19:35,821
for the Webb Telescope to get on orbit.
424
00:19:35,841 --> 00:19:37,757
Yeah, it's pressure,
but it's also gratefulness
425
00:19:37,777 --> 00:19:40,226
that all you and your team
and people are working so hard
426
00:19:40,246 --> 00:19:42,161
to make sure every last thing works.
427
00:19:42,181 --> 00:19:43,496
Okay. - Okay, bye.
428
00:19:43,516 --> 00:19:44,815
Bye bye.
429
00:19:45,785 --> 00:19:47,032
Good, huh?
430
00:19:47,052 --> 00:19:48,172
That's a great conversation.
431
00:19:49,655 --> 00:19:51,571
He's like basically the
brains behind the whole thing.
432
00:19:51,591 --> 00:19:53,239
And you know, sometimes, I
didn't ask him this time,
433
00:19:53,259 --> 00:19:54,640
but almost every time I ask him like,
434
00:19:54,660 --> 00:19:56,375
"Well, what if something bad happens to you
435
00:19:56,395 --> 00:19:58,195
and you get hit by a
bus, who's the next guy?"
436
00:20:11,144 --> 00:20:13,326
There's a couple of race series that
437
00:20:13,346 --> 00:20:16,013
got started in the last five years or so.
438
00:20:20,085 --> 00:20:22,735
My husband and I, we go on Craigslist,
439
00:20:22,755 --> 00:20:24,537
look for a really cheap car and then
440
00:20:24,557 --> 00:20:26,757
drag it home and fix it up, race it.
441
00:20:29,228 --> 00:20:32,011
Being a system engineer
for the Webb Telescope
442
00:20:32,031 --> 00:20:34,413
I don't really get to touch
a lot of this hardware.
443
00:20:34,433 --> 00:20:36,949
So working on cars is pretty satisfying
444
00:20:36,969 --> 00:20:38,083
because it lets you actually
445
00:20:38,103 --> 00:20:39,223
put your hands on something.
446
00:20:41,374 --> 00:20:42,573
I'm not strong enough.
447
00:20:46,712 --> 00:20:48,828
Those races are 14 or 15 hours long.
448
00:20:48,848 --> 00:20:52,898
And usually we break down
before we get to 14 or 15 hours.
449
00:20:52,918 --> 00:20:55,501
And the James Webb, it's
a very different problem.
450
00:20:55,521 --> 00:20:58,571
You know, I mean, James
Webb has to work first time.
451
00:20:58,591 --> 00:21:00,424
It is too far away from the Earth.
452
00:21:01,994 --> 00:21:03,843
Where we're putting the Webb Telescope
453
00:21:03,863 --> 00:21:07,647
is a place called L2 and if you think of
454
00:21:07,667 --> 00:21:12,703
here's the Earth, here's the
sun, L2 is on the other side,
455
00:21:14,674 --> 00:21:17,723
a million miles away from the Earth.
456
00:21:17,743 --> 00:21:20,645
The full moon is between us and L2.
457
00:21:22,081 --> 00:21:23,714
That's where James Webb will be.
458
00:21:25,218 --> 00:21:27,118
It's four times the distance to the moon.
459
00:21:36,695 --> 00:21:38,611
Oh my God, look at that picture over there.
460
00:21:38,631 --> 00:21:40,613
Hand me a roll of color quick, will you?
461
00:21:40,633 --> 00:21:41,614
Oh, man.
462
00:21:41,634 --> 00:21:43,148
Quick.
463
00:21:43,168 --> 00:21:44,617
I'm looking for one.
464
00:21:44,637 --> 00:21:46,018
That went from here.
465
00:21:46,038 --> 00:21:47,019
Hey, I've got it right here.
466
00:21:47,039 --> 00:21:48,153
I got it right.
467
00:21:48,173 --> 00:21:49,154
Oh, I got a beautiful shot.
468
00:21:49,174 --> 00:21:50,756
You got it?
469
00:21:50,776 --> 00:21:52,291
50 years ago, they say, we went
470
00:21:52,311 --> 00:21:53,559
looking for the moon
and we found the Earth.
471
00:21:53,579 --> 00:21:55,160
Yeah, that's true.
472
00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:58,097
That picture of the Earth.
473
00:21:58,117 --> 00:21:59,565
That was really the beginning of
474
00:21:59,585 --> 00:22:01,819
the modern environmental
movement right there.
475
00:22:09,662 --> 00:22:12,263
This is one of my favorite little lakes.
476
00:22:14,533 --> 00:22:18,169
There's an eagle circling
around in front of us.
477
00:22:21,206 --> 00:22:24,590
In grad school I asked the question,
478
00:22:24,610 --> 00:22:26,659
"What does the Earth look like
479
00:22:26,679 --> 00:22:29,528
from very far away when you can't
480
00:22:29,548 --> 00:22:31,597
see the continents and the oceans?
481
00:22:31,617 --> 00:22:33,933
And can you actually tell that
482
00:22:33,953 --> 00:22:35,720
there is life on that planet?"
483
00:22:37,490 --> 00:22:41,006
So we looked at the moon not
too many days after new moon
484
00:22:41,026 --> 00:22:42,608
when you can just first start to see
485
00:22:42,628 --> 00:22:45,611
that thinnest crescent right at sunset.
486
00:22:45,631 --> 00:22:49,082
You'll notice that the
dark part of the moon
487
00:22:49,102 --> 00:22:52,685
is also visible because
the Earth is shining
488
00:22:52,705 --> 00:22:55,754
on that part of the lunar surface.
489
00:22:55,774 --> 00:22:59,158
So if you take a telescope
and you look at that light,
490
00:22:59,178 --> 00:23:01,560
it's Earth light, all jumbled up together.
491
00:23:01,580 --> 00:23:06,031
It's the land, it's the ocean,
it's the clouds, the air.
492
00:23:06,051 --> 00:23:08,501
And when you spread that
light out and look at it
493
00:23:08,521 --> 00:23:11,837
you can plainly see the squiggly line, that
494
00:23:11,857 --> 00:23:16,776
this is a planet that has a
definite clear oxygen line.
495
00:23:16,796 --> 00:23:20,313
And there's definitely carbon
dioxide and there's methane.
496
00:23:20,333 --> 00:23:24,183
Those signals were all tangled up together
497
00:23:24,203 --> 00:23:27,853
in the colors of the Earth.
498
00:23:27,873 --> 00:23:29,388
And that was what we called
499
00:23:29,408 --> 00:23:32,009
the spectrum of a habitable planet.
500
00:23:35,214 --> 00:23:39,131
When I first heard of the search for
501
00:23:39,151 --> 00:23:41,600
extraterrestrial intelligence,
502
00:23:41,620 --> 00:23:44,203
I thought that this was by far
503
00:23:44,223 --> 00:23:47,358
the most interesting thing
to study in all of astronomy.
504
00:23:48,894 --> 00:23:50,743
Finding out that there
are other civilizations
505
00:23:50,763 --> 00:23:54,079
in the observable universe
would be pretty much
506
00:23:54,099 --> 00:23:56,534
right there at the top of
things you could find out.
507
00:23:58,037 --> 00:23:59,485
You're working with
508
00:23:59,505 --> 00:24:01,220
Jill Tarter and the SETI Institute?
509
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,357
Yeah, absolutely,
Jill was the SETI pioneer.
510
00:24:04,377 --> 00:24:07,226
The Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
511
00:24:07,246 --> 00:24:10,563
I met her shortly after the
movie "Contact" came out
512
00:24:10,583 --> 00:24:12,297
and I had never heard of Jill before.
513
00:24:12,317 --> 00:24:13,766
I didn't know there was a connection
514
00:24:13,786 --> 00:24:15,634
between that movie and her.
515
00:24:15,654 --> 00:24:16,835
Yeah, the Jodie Foster
516
00:24:16,855 --> 00:24:18,637
character is modeled on her.
517
00:24:18,657 --> 00:24:21,826
Yeah, Jill is one of my longest mentors.
518
00:24:27,466 --> 00:24:31,984
When we started, SETI was
considered pretty fringy.
519
00:24:32,004 --> 00:24:33,519
We didn't even know if there were
520
00:24:33,539 --> 00:24:35,005
any planets beyond our solar system.
521
00:24:36,809 --> 00:24:40,259
And we spent a lot of time
building up credibility.
522
00:24:40,279 --> 00:24:43,396
Making a distinction between ourselves
523
00:24:43,416 --> 00:24:45,330
and the folks who report seeing
524
00:24:45,350 --> 00:24:48,118
little green men in
spaceships and being abducted.
525
00:24:49,688 --> 00:24:51,804
I mean, people would be writing books about
526
00:24:51,824 --> 00:24:53,806
the SETI pioneers and it would be,
527
00:24:53,826 --> 00:24:56,141
"What's a nice girl like you
doing in a place like this,"
528
00:24:56,161 --> 00:24:57,342
sort of questions.
529
00:24:57,362 --> 00:24:59,296
It was really hard.
530
00:25:01,100 --> 00:25:02,748
Do you think there is life out there?
531
00:25:02,768 --> 00:25:05,150
You know, Nathaniel, whatever I think
532
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:08,621
about life beyond Earth
doesn't matter a bit.
533
00:25:08,641 --> 00:25:11,891
For millennia, we asked the
priests, the philosophers,
534
00:25:11,911 --> 00:25:15,227
whoever we thought was wise,
what we should believe.
535
00:25:15,247 --> 00:25:17,362
Well, we can now change that verb
536
00:25:17,382 --> 00:25:19,898
into the verb "to explore."
537
00:25:19,918 --> 00:25:22,367
Anything else is religion and
we're not doing religion here.
538
00:25:22,387 --> 00:25:23,521
We're doing science.
539
00:25:25,258 --> 00:25:27,239
What's going on with this one?
540
00:25:27,259 --> 00:25:29,842
The birds love to nest here
541
00:25:29,862 --> 00:25:31,243
and they will chew on this
542
00:25:31,263 --> 00:25:33,163
and they will chew through it.
543
00:25:35,468 --> 00:25:38,517
These dishes pick up radio frequencies
544
00:25:38,537 --> 00:25:42,254
and we're listening for broadcast signals
545
00:25:42,274 --> 00:25:44,708
from a distant civilization.
546
00:25:46,479 --> 00:25:48,594
We're looking for signals
that are engineered.
547
00:25:48,614 --> 00:25:52,064
Things that mother nature
can't do, but we can.
548
00:25:52,084 --> 00:25:53,651
And presumably they can.
549
00:25:55,154 --> 00:25:56,735
But we have looked a bit.
550
00:25:56,755 --> 00:25:59,472
And so far we haven't found anything.
551
00:25:59,492 --> 00:26:01,540
We just haven't looked far enough.
552
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,742
That volume of search space,
553
00:26:03,762 --> 00:26:07,346
set it equal to the volume
of all the Earth's oceans.
554
00:26:07,366 --> 00:26:09,548
And then ask yourself how much of
555
00:26:09,568 --> 00:26:12,217
the Earth's oceans have we searched?
556
00:26:12,237 --> 00:26:15,955
And the answer is one eight ounce glass.
557
00:26:15,975 --> 00:26:18,090
Now, if your question was not,
558
00:26:18,110 --> 00:26:19,492
"Are there extra terrestrials,"
559
00:26:19,512 --> 00:26:21,293
but "are there fish in the ocean?"
560
00:26:21,313 --> 00:26:23,295
And you did that experiment and you
561
00:26:23,315 --> 00:26:25,430
dipped your glass in and
you looked at it and,
562
00:26:25,450 --> 00:26:27,432
"Well, no fish in there."
563
00:26:27,452 --> 00:26:28,901
I mean that experiment could have worked
564
00:26:28,921 --> 00:26:30,569
but there aren't any fish in there.
565
00:26:30,589 --> 00:26:33,305
I don't think that you're going to conclude
566
00:26:33,325 --> 00:26:35,374
there are no fish in the ocean.
567
00:26:35,394 --> 00:26:37,442
You're going to say, "I got
to fish a whole lot more."
568
00:26:37,462 --> 00:26:39,111
And that's where we are.
569
00:26:39,131 --> 00:26:40,598
We have a lot more searching to do.
570
00:26:50,809 --> 00:26:53,544
Ultimately science is about observation.
571
00:26:54,547 --> 00:26:56,461
Because it's only observation
572
00:26:56,481 --> 00:26:58,349
which actually gives you the truth.
573
00:27:00,619 --> 00:27:02,334
As the ancients looked up at the sky,
574
00:27:02,354 --> 00:27:05,470
it was obvious that
everything went around us.
575
00:27:05,490 --> 00:27:08,673
We were the center of that universe.
576
00:27:08,693 --> 00:27:11,629
And then Galileo lifted
his telescope to the stars.
577
00:27:12,765 --> 00:27:13,765
He looks at the moon.
578
00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:17,434
The moon was supposed
to be this perfect orb.
579
00:27:19,238 --> 00:27:21,620
And he sees for the first
time, the moon is not perfect.
580
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,207
It has mountains, it has craters.
581
00:27:26,445 --> 00:27:28,160
But the most important observation,
582
00:27:28,180 --> 00:27:30,648
the one that was truly revolutionary,
583
00:27:32,651 --> 00:27:37,655
he looked at Jupiter and he
saw four pinpricks of light.
584
00:27:38,857 --> 00:27:41,240
And he assumed they were stars.
585
00:27:41,260 --> 00:27:45,462
And then he realized they were
moons going around Jupiter.
586
00:27:47,332 --> 00:27:50,182
Everything was supposed to
be going around the Earth.
587
00:27:50,202 --> 00:27:52,603
And here was proof it wasn't.
588
00:27:54,273 --> 00:27:56,455
And he realizes that
the ancients were wrong,
589
00:27:56,475 --> 00:28:01,111
the church was wrong, and
we're going around the sun.
590
00:28:11,156 --> 00:28:15,225
Observation overthrew ancient wisdom.
591
00:28:21,634 --> 00:28:25,703
This was the very first time anybody took
592
00:28:27,172 --> 00:28:29,822
two lenses and lifted them to the sky.
593
00:28:29,842 --> 00:28:33,158
And it revealed a universe that
nobody had ever seen before.
594
00:28:33,178 --> 00:28:34,827
Once he'd done this, and he wrote it down,
595
00:28:34,847 --> 00:28:37,029
you can see from his book here,
he wrote down what he saw.
596
00:28:37,049 --> 00:28:38,897
Other people could build
their own telescope.
597
00:28:38,917 --> 00:28:42,034
And suddenly these ideas
could actually flood out.
598
00:28:42,054 --> 00:28:43,769
Galileo was locked away for 10 years
599
00:28:43,789 --> 00:28:48,240
because the church claimed
that this wasn't true.
600
00:28:48,260 --> 00:28:49,975
400 years ago, it started there.
601
00:28:49,995 --> 00:28:53,378
400 years later, we're
actually taking a mirror
602
00:28:53,398 --> 00:28:57,182
which is 250 times,
roughly, bigger than this,
603
00:28:57,202 --> 00:28:59,985
And we're going to fold it
up and launch it into space
604
00:29:00,005 --> 00:29:01,987
to give it even more sensitivity
605
00:29:02,007 --> 00:29:05,808
to actually see to the
edge of the known universe.
606
00:29:14,152 --> 00:29:16,068
Wow, traffic is crappy.
607
00:29:16,088 --> 00:29:17,469
I think everybody can agree
608
00:29:17,489 --> 00:29:19,672
we're wasting a lot of
energy and effort here.
609
00:29:19,692 --> 00:29:24,009
There's a lot of people
around and we're not being
610
00:29:24,029 --> 00:29:26,497
as responsible as we can
with everything that we have.
611
00:29:28,033 --> 00:29:30,749
Actually, I grew up in Taiwan, in Taipei.
612
00:29:30,769 --> 00:29:33,085
It has some of the worst pollution.
613
00:29:33,105 --> 00:29:35,087
Oh, it was hard to see the stars.
614
00:29:35,107 --> 00:29:37,156
with all our problems on the Earth,
615
00:29:37,176 --> 00:29:39,291
should we really be spending
so much money on a telescope?
616
00:29:39,311 --> 00:29:41,426
Our almost reason for being, you know,
617
00:29:41,446 --> 00:29:44,429
one of our reasons for being
is so that we can do these
618
00:29:44,449 --> 00:29:46,498
good and interesting things that
619
00:29:46,518 --> 00:29:49,301
move us forward as a species.
620
00:29:49,321 --> 00:29:52,304
I think everybody wants to do something,
621
00:29:52,324 --> 00:29:56,041
be a part of something greater than just
622
00:29:56,061 --> 00:29:57,361
what they can do alone.
623
00:29:59,131 --> 00:30:01,513
Building something like
the Webb Telescope is that.
624
00:30:01,533 --> 00:30:03,782
So you know, I mean I don't know
625
00:30:03,802 --> 00:30:06,170
what else would you want
to do with your life?
626
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:16,595
Hey Jon.
627
00:30:16,615 --> 00:30:18,263
- Kevin!
- Good to see you again.
628
00:30:18,283 --> 00:30:19,932
Hi, Amy Lo.
629
00:30:19,952 --> 00:30:21,066
Amy, nice to meet you.
630
00:30:21,086 --> 00:30:22,601
We've never met before.
631
00:30:22,621 --> 00:30:24,469
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you.
632
00:30:24,489 --> 00:30:26,004
Jon and I have known each
other for a long time.
633
00:30:26,024 --> 00:30:27,606
Jon's got a big presence.
634
00:30:27,626 --> 00:30:29,074
So he grabbed my attention when I saw him.
635
00:30:29,094 --> 00:30:30,609
We've come a long way.
636
00:30:30,629 --> 00:30:31,610
And your timing's perfect.
637
00:30:31,630 --> 00:30:33,612
We're just about to run a test.
638
00:30:33,632 --> 00:30:36,200
This has got to work like
all the other major elements.
639
00:30:39,304 --> 00:30:41,553
We have enough sensitivity
with our telescope
640
00:30:41,573 --> 00:30:44,156
and our instruments to detect
641
00:30:44,176 --> 00:30:47,778
a child's nightlight located on the moon.
642
00:30:50,248 --> 00:30:53,832
I know that if you were to
certainly take your radiant heat,
643
00:30:53,852 --> 00:30:56,835
which for a human is about 80 to 100 Watts
644
00:30:56,855 --> 00:30:58,637
and stick it on the moon, we would easily
645
00:30:58,657 --> 00:30:59,823
be able to detect that.
646
00:31:03,996 --> 00:31:05,577
When people think about the telescope,
647
00:31:05,597 --> 00:31:07,780
they think of the huge mirror, right?
648
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,115
That's the iconic part of the telescope
649
00:31:10,135 --> 00:31:12,184
but this is what the
astronomers care about.
650
00:31:12,204 --> 00:31:14,037
This is where the data comes from.
651
00:31:16,541 --> 00:31:18,056
Our telescope is so sensitive that it could
652
00:31:18,076 --> 00:31:20,125
pick up the heat of a bumblebee
653
00:31:20,145 --> 00:31:23,061
if the bumblebee were
as far away as the moon.
654
00:31:23,081 --> 00:31:25,130
That is completely astonishing to me,
655
00:31:25,150 --> 00:31:26,531
even knowing that that's our telescope
656
00:31:26,551 --> 00:31:28,667
and we built it that way.
657
00:31:28,687 --> 00:31:30,402
Yes, I've heard that.
658
00:31:30,422 --> 00:31:31,822
In fact, I was asked about it.
659
00:31:33,692 --> 00:31:36,675
I'd have to sit down and do
the math very, very carefully.
660
00:31:36,695 --> 00:31:40,679
I've learned one does not
argue with Nobel Prize winners.
661
00:31:40,699 --> 00:31:42,414
I heard about this calculation.
662
00:31:42,434 --> 00:31:43,415
I checked it myself.
663
00:31:43,435 --> 00:31:44,617
I believe it's correct.
664
00:31:44,637 --> 00:31:46,551
Yeah.
665
00:31:46,571 --> 00:31:50,440
If we had the moon here and
the Earth 250,000 miles...
666
00:31:52,110 --> 00:31:53,758
What you'd do first is calculate
the area of the sphere.
667
00:31:53,778 --> 00:31:55,245
Frequency times Planck's constant.
668
00:32:02,521 --> 00:32:04,569
A bumblebee gives off how much energy?
669
00:32:04,589 --> 00:32:09,426
Well, it gives off about
50 milliwatts of power.
670
00:32:13,265 --> 00:32:15,180
It does seem reasonable that we could
671
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,317
see a bumblebee on the
moon with our telescope.
672
00:32:18,337 --> 00:32:20,519
That's a bumblebee as
opposed to a yellow jacket
673
00:32:20,539 --> 00:32:23,522
as opposed to a hornet but
we could collect the light.
674
00:32:23,542 --> 00:32:26,944
Should know better than to
argue with our chief scientist.
675
00:32:35,688 --> 00:32:39,204
These are all
worker bees, which are female.
676
00:32:39,224 --> 00:32:42,541
There will typically be
some drones in here too,
677
00:32:42,561 --> 00:32:44,276
bigger males.
678
00:32:44,296 --> 00:32:47,212
They aren't essential to
the survival of the hives.
679
00:32:47,232 --> 00:32:48,747
Hm, the males are not essential?
680
00:32:48,767 --> 00:32:51,083
No, in the fall
681
00:32:51,103 --> 00:32:52,951
all the drones are going to get kicked out.
682
00:32:52,971 --> 00:32:55,554
They're going to be begging to stay
683
00:32:55,574 --> 00:32:57,155
and the workers are gonna be like,
684
00:32:57,175 --> 00:33:00,692
"Sorry, we do not have resources
to feed you all winter."
685
00:33:00,712 --> 00:33:01,826
They're going to kick them out
686
00:33:01,846 --> 00:33:03,762
and they will go freeze and die.
687
00:33:03,782 --> 00:33:07,900
And these girls will stay
together all winter long
688
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,721
beating their wings and making enough heat.
689
00:33:12,457 --> 00:33:17,042
I'm living in Wisconsin
because I really wanted to be
690
00:33:17,062 --> 00:33:20,913
closer to the natural
world in my daily life
691
00:33:20,933 --> 00:33:25,435
in a way that an office
couldn't do for me personally.
692
00:33:27,405 --> 00:33:28,921
It reminds me of the shape of the mirrors
693
00:33:28,941 --> 00:33:30,388
on the James Webb Space Telescope.
694
00:33:30,408 --> 00:33:31,856
It does, yeah.
695
00:33:31,876 --> 00:33:33,592
The hexagons are just
a really efficient way
696
00:33:33,612 --> 00:33:35,728
of packing together a bunch
of cells in one place.
697
00:33:35,748 --> 00:33:39,798
So that is a shape you will find in nature.
698
00:33:39,818 --> 00:33:41,985
And in mechanical engineering.
699
00:33:43,555 --> 00:33:44,937
I already know which of these hives
700
00:33:44,957 --> 00:33:46,739
isn't going to make it through the winter.
701
00:33:46,759 --> 00:33:48,540
It's hard on them.
702
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,008
There is colony collapse because of
703
00:33:50,028 --> 00:33:52,611
chemicals that's going on fields.
704
00:33:52,631 --> 00:33:54,279
There's a farm field right there
705
00:33:54,299 --> 00:33:56,481
that's obviously not being sprayed.
706
00:33:56,501 --> 00:33:59,151
The bees probably love that
707
00:33:59,171 --> 00:34:01,471
and they need diversity of resources.
708
00:34:03,175 --> 00:34:06,758
It's fascinating to see how
that social structure operates.
709
00:34:06,778 --> 00:34:09,494
And one does kind of wonder,
710
00:34:09,514 --> 00:34:12,765
is there another civilization of that type
711
00:34:12,785 --> 00:34:16,887
out there that is more
collectively minded than we are?
712
00:34:19,124 --> 00:34:21,373
If there are other
civilizations that could be
713
00:34:21,393 --> 00:34:24,042
really useful information because we're
714
00:34:24,062 --> 00:34:25,978
at this point where we don't know
715
00:34:25,998 --> 00:34:28,632
if we can survive the
emergence of technology.
716
00:34:37,075 --> 00:34:38,923
If you think it would happen,
717
00:34:38,943 --> 00:34:40,258
when would it happen?
718
00:34:40,278 --> 00:34:42,727
Within a period of 10 years, 20, 50 years?
719
00:34:42,747 --> 00:34:45,664
Depends on how much of an effort we make.
720
00:34:45,684 --> 00:34:47,599
If we make no effort the possibility of
721
00:34:47,619 --> 00:34:50,087
detecting such signals is small.
722
00:34:52,290 --> 00:34:55,740
We are one step closer to
answering the age old question,
723
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:57,409
"Are we alone in the universe?"
724
00:34:57,429 --> 00:35:00,145
NASA announced the discovery
of seven Earth-sized planets
725
00:35:00,165 --> 00:35:03,281
around a star about 40
light years away from Earth.
726
00:35:03,301 --> 00:35:06,084
This is the latest revelation
in a wave of discoveries
727
00:35:06,104 --> 00:35:08,220
over the past 25 years of new worlds
728
00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:11,289
that exist in solar systems beyond our own.
729
00:35:11,309 --> 00:35:15,027
Astronomers call the
discovery the Trappist-1 system.
730
00:35:15,047 --> 00:35:18,363
Sarah Seager of MIT is
one of the researchers.
731
00:35:18,383 --> 00:35:20,632
We've made a giant accelerated leap forward
732
00:35:20,652 --> 00:35:22,634
in the search for habitable worlds.
733
00:35:22,654 --> 00:35:24,836
These planets are among the best
734
00:35:24,856 --> 00:35:26,705
of all the planets we know to follow up
735
00:35:26,725 --> 00:35:29,574
with the James Webb Space Telescope.
736
00:35:29,594 --> 00:35:33,845
The discovery gives us a hint
that finding a second Earth
737
00:35:33,865 --> 00:35:36,766
is not just a matter of if, but when.
738
00:35:41,540 --> 00:35:43,856
Wow, Trappist-1 is all over the news.
739
00:35:43,876 --> 00:35:45,390
I mean, look at it.
740
00:35:45,410 --> 00:35:46,258
Nothing else comes close.
741
00:35:46,278 --> 00:35:47,859
Yeah.
742
00:35:47,879 --> 00:35:48,927
And look at the TESS predictions.
743
00:35:48,947 --> 00:35:50,729
I mean, even the simulated sample
744
00:35:50,749 --> 00:35:52,664
from TESS doesn't reach down there.
745
00:35:52,684 --> 00:35:54,999
I mean, Trappist, I think unless we get
746
00:35:55,019 --> 00:35:58,937
extraordinarily lucky, Trappist
is going to remain this
747
00:35:58,957 --> 00:36:02,741
singular system, completely unique.
748
00:36:02,761 --> 00:36:04,609
Trappist is just so cool.
749
00:36:04,629 --> 00:36:06,678
Especially if some of those planets
750
00:36:06,698 --> 00:36:08,613
could have water features.
751
00:36:08,633 --> 00:36:09,948
All right, we'll pick this up later.
752
00:36:09,968 --> 00:36:10,815
Okay.
753
00:36:10,835 --> 00:36:12,684
You can leave that.
754
00:36:12,704 --> 00:36:14,686
It's nice that my daughter is
actually involved with this.
755
00:36:14,706 --> 00:36:16,873
So I do feel like I'm passing something on.
756
00:36:19,912 --> 00:36:22,494
I am designing the observing program
757
00:36:22,514 --> 00:36:25,297
that we're going to use with
the James Webb Space Telescope
758
00:36:25,317 --> 00:36:27,699
to observe Trappist-1E.
759
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:28,833
And 1E is what?
760
00:36:28,853 --> 00:36:30,302
That's one of the planets?
761
00:36:30,322 --> 00:36:33,037
Yes, the Trappist star is much redder
762
00:36:33,057 --> 00:36:36,126
and only about half the
temperature of our own sun.
763
00:36:37,596 --> 00:36:41,045
B and C are probably far too hot
764
00:36:41,065 --> 00:36:45,249
to be able to sustain surface liquid water.
765
00:36:45,269 --> 00:36:46,985
The habitable zone,
766
00:36:47,005 --> 00:36:48,787
which is also sometimes
called the Goldilocks zone,
767
00:36:48,807 --> 00:36:51,189
is right about here.
768
00:36:51,209 --> 00:36:55,994
And E really sits right in this region
769
00:36:56,014 --> 00:36:59,998
where surface liquid water
could potentially exist,
770
00:37:00,018 --> 00:37:02,467
which is what we think we need for life.
771
00:37:02,487 --> 00:37:05,355
And I can actually show you
this on a travel poster.
772
00:37:07,159 --> 00:37:11,009
And so here you can actually
see what you would be seeing
773
00:37:11,029 --> 00:37:13,545
if you were sitting on the
surface of Trappist-1E.
774
00:37:13,565 --> 00:37:15,747
How do you mean a travel poster?
775
00:37:15,767 --> 00:37:16,548
What does it come from?
776
00:37:16,568 --> 00:37:18,550
What is this?
777
00:37:18,570 --> 00:37:21,686
So this is an artist's
rendering of Trappist-1E.
778
00:37:21,706 --> 00:37:24,556
It says, "Voted best hab zone vacation
779
00:37:24,576 --> 00:37:27,359
within 12 parsecs of Earth."
780
00:37:27,379 --> 00:37:29,694
And below it, does it describe it at all?
781
00:37:29,714 --> 00:37:31,830
It says, "Some 40 light years from Earth
782
00:37:31,850 --> 00:37:35,967
a planet called Trappist-1E
offers heart-stopping view.
783
00:37:35,987 --> 00:37:38,503
Brilliant objects in a red sky looming like
784
00:37:38,523 --> 00:37:42,106
larger and smaller
versions of our own moon."
785
00:37:42,126 --> 00:37:43,641
You're part of a team,
786
00:37:43,661 --> 00:37:44,709
right, that's doing this?
787
00:37:44,729 --> 00:37:45,777
Right, right, right.
788
00:37:45,797 --> 00:37:47,512
So when James Webb is launching
789
00:37:47,532 --> 00:37:50,782
we will be able to measure
the atmosphere composition
790
00:37:50,802 --> 00:37:52,050
of some of these planets.
791
00:37:52,070 --> 00:37:53,385
So tell me,
792
00:37:53,405 --> 00:37:54,919
how did you come to study exoplanets, then?
793
00:37:54,939 --> 00:37:56,454
When I was really little,
794
00:37:56,474 --> 00:37:58,723
probably eight or nine, my mom had
795
00:37:58,743 --> 00:38:03,328
me and all my siblings draw
pictures of astronauts.
796
00:38:03,348 --> 00:38:05,463
And I was so proud to show
her and she looks at it
797
00:38:05,483 --> 00:38:07,665
and she goes, "Oh yeah,
you know, that's awesome.
798
00:38:07,685 --> 00:38:09,586
Why did you draw a white man?"
799
00:38:11,223 --> 00:38:12,804
You know, my mom is a female scientist.
800
00:38:12,824 --> 00:38:14,072
My dad is a Latin scientist
801
00:38:14,092 --> 00:38:16,875
and I had drawn this white man.
802
00:38:16,895 --> 00:38:21,079
And I was so shocked and
I think moving forward
803
00:38:21,099 --> 00:38:23,481
I was always conscious about that.
804
00:38:23,501 --> 00:38:26,403
And instead of being some, you know,
805
00:38:27,839 --> 00:38:29,354
being something that
kind of discouraged me,
806
00:38:29,374 --> 00:38:31,141
I think that that kind of empowered me.
807
00:38:34,312 --> 00:38:36,294
We all have the same desires and wants and
808
00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:38,630
and generally science and NASA missions
809
00:38:38,650 --> 00:38:40,899
brings those things to the table.
810
00:38:40,919 --> 00:38:43,902
Unfortunately, in the
space science community
811
00:38:43,922 --> 00:38:46,504
it hasn't been as diverse as it should be.
812
00:38:46,524 --> 00:38:49,693
And one of the things with
exoplanets, it's newer.
813
00:38:51,529 --> 00:38:55,647
Generally the newer sciences
attract more diverse teams.
814
00:38:55,667 --> 00:38:58,116
So yes, that really excites me and
815
00:38:58,136 --> 00:39:00,184
we're scientists and engineers, right?
816
00:39:00,204 --> 00:39:03,255
So certainly we follow the data.
817
00:39:03,275 --> 00:39:06,190
All of the data supports
that, that teams are
818
00:39:06,210 --> 00:39:10,328
far more successful and better
when they're more diverse.
819
00:39:10,348 --> 00:39:12,797
So I always say, "Now's the time."
820
00:39:12,817 --> 00:39:14,050
And I think now's the time.
821
00:39:18,089 --> 00:39:19,070
Nothing?
822
00:39:19,090 --> 00:39:20,138
Okay, let's get started.
823
00:39:20,158 --> 00:39:21,324
Any questions guys?
824
00:39:23,828 --> 00:39:24,828
Only four more to go.
825
00:39:26,498 --> 00:39:28,813
We don't want the telescope portion
826
00:39:28,833 --> 00:39:31,616
of the Webb Telescope to see any of the sun
827
00:39:31,636 --> 00:39:33,937
because we're trying to
keep it very, very cold.
828
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,556
In order to detect heat
signature, infrared signature,
829
00:39:38,576 --> 00:39:40,158
it obviously needs to be very cold
830
00:39:40,178 --> 00:39:42,961
or all it's going to
measure is just itself.
831
00:39:42,981 --> 00:39:46,549
Minus J mid, MTS full
deployment, layer one.
832
00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:50,168
In space, really the only
thing that will heat you up
833
00:39:50,188 --> 00:39:52,170
is the electronics that you've got
834
00:39:52,190 --> 00:39:54,372
and a really bright
source, which is the sun.
835
00:39:54,392 --> 00:39:55,907
And that's the purpose of the sunshield.
836
00:39:55,927 --> 00:39:57,642
The sunshield keeps the telescope
837
00:39:57,662 --> 00:39:59,243
from getting all that sunlight.
838
00:39:59,263 --> 00:40:00,497
So it stays cold.
839
00:40:02,334 --> 00:40:05,249
Nice and slow, guys, nice and slow.
840
00:40:05,269 --> 00:40:07,652
What's particularly
challenging is the fact that
841
00:40:07,672 --> 00:40:12,041
we have to fold it up and
deploy it once we get on orbit.
842
00:40:18,149 --> 00:40:19,263
Oh, stop.
843
00:40:19,283 --> 00:40:19,931
Hold that.
844
00:40:19,951 --> 00:40:20,951
What happened?
845
00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:24,202
We just lost the cable.
846
00:40:24,222 --> 00:40:25,870
If you could talk to Jon about that?
847
00:40:25,890 --> 00:40:27,271
Yeah, you know, I'm gonna go get him
848
00:40:27,291 --> 00:40:28,140
while we're doing layer four.
849
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:29,808
Okay.
850
00:40:29,828 --> 00:40:31,943
We'll come back and do layer five.
851
00:40:31,963 --> 00:40:32,944
Brian, are you ready?
852
00:40:32,964 --> 00:40:33,945
Ready.
853
00:40:33,965 --> 00:40:35,079
You ready?
854
00:40:35,099 --> 00:40:36,748
Yeah.
855
00:40:36,768 --> 00:40:38,750
Going up.
856
00:40:38,770 --> 00:40:41,553
Layer one's running about
212 degrees Fahrenheit
857
00:40:41,573 --> 00:40:43,955
and layer five on the cold side is running
858
00:40:43,975 --> 00:40:45,757
about minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
859
00:40:45,777 --> 00:40:47,610
So it's approximately a million SPF.
860
00:40:52,316 --> 00:40:53,698
I'll tell you what,
861
00:40:53,718 --> 00:40:55,367
you go and you kind of pooch that up,
862
00:40:55,387 --> 00:40:56,901
you're not going to come anywhere close.
863
00:40:56,921 --> 00:40:58,370
I can take a look at it.
864
00:40:58,390 --> 00:41:00,238
That's what I need somebody
865
00:41:00,258 --> 00:41:02,625
to explain to me, how that's
going to be okay on flight.
866
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,769
I've always set my sights on big goals.
867
00:41:14,206 --> 00:41:16,172
I'm a very competitive person by nature.
868
00:41:17,141 --> 00:41:18,790
I don't like to lose.
869
00:41:18,810 --> 00:41:22,194
I like to prove myself
equal to any challenge.
870
00:41:22,214 --> 00:41:23,461
America's first attempt
871
00:41:23,481 --> 00:41:24,862
to launch a satellite.
872
00:41:24,882 --> 00:41:26,130
When I was a little boy.
873
00:41:26,150 --> 00:41:28,051
My father told stories.
874
00:41:29,287 --> 00:41:31,603
He worked on Vanguard
875
00:41:31,623 --> 00:41:33,805
and it blew up on national television.
876
00:41:33,825 --> 00:41:36,326
Just blew up, twice.
877
00:41:40,031 --> 00:41:41,879
Give me one more, there you go.
878
00:41:41,899 --> 00:41:43,032
Done, done, done, done, done
879
00:41:45,770 --> 00:41:47,351
By the time I'm done
880
00:41:47,371 --> 00:41:49,221
I will have been on the
program 12 and a half years
881
00:41:49,241 --> 00:41:52,957
and it will all come down to
that very short period of time
882
00:41:52,977 --> 00:41:57,013
between launch and when we
complete deployment about here.
883
00:42:00,318 --> 00:42:03,034
It's not unlike training for a meet.
884
00:42:03,054 --> 00:42:04,302
I would train for months.
885
00:42:04,322 --> 00:42:06,170
Yeah, nice.
886
00:42:06,190 --> 00:42:08,224
For what literally was
a few seconds of activity.
887
00:42:12,264 --> 00:42:15,179
We're all very well aware that we have to
888
00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:18,783
get this right the first
time, the only time,
889
00:42:18,803 --> 00:42:22,386
because out at L2, repairman
doesn't make a house call.
890
00:42:22,406 --> 00:42:24,656
We don't get that second chance.
891
00:42:24,676 --> 00:42:27,176
It's a "one strike and
you're out" business.
892
00:42:36,821 --> 00:42:39,137
Sometimes I put music on,
like 80s music typically,
893
00:42:39,157 --> 00:42:41,925
and just let my mind wander
to like what's out there.
894
00:42:44,963 --> 00:42:46,744
That's your favorite music?
895
00:42:46,764 --> 00:42:48,280
I just kind of like
the 80s, what about you?
896
00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:50,348
Oh yeah, well that's my era too.
897
00:42:50,368 --> 00:42:52,150
The 80s is big now, you know?
898
00:42:52,170 --> 00:42:54,352
Even my kids know all the
80s songs, lots of kids do.
899
00:42:54,372 --> 00:42:56,020
Really?
900
00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:57,288
Apparently, yeah, apparently the 80s,
901
00:42:57,308 --> 00:42:58,741
the beat is still very popular.
902
00:43:01,313 --> 00:43:03,094
Interesting, right?
903
00:43:03,114 --> 00:43:05,782
Yeah, that's interesting.
904
00:43:08,386 --> 00:43:11,836
Where does the drive come from?
905
00:43:11,856 --> 00:43:13,972
I mean, the drive is really the end goal,
906
00:43:13,992 --> 00:43:16,307
which is finding another
Earth, a true Earth.
907
00:43:16,327 --> 00:43:19,310
But, that's the drive, right,
908
00:43:19,330 --> 00:43:20,897
but the joy is in the every day.
909
00:43:24,268 --> 00:43:26,851
And if we could find another Earth
910
00:43:26,871 --> 00:43:28,805
what do you think that would mean for us?
911
00:43:30,274 --> 00:43:31,274
It's a tough one.
912
00:43:32,476 --> 00:43:33,858
What do I think it'd mean?
913
00:43:33,878 --> 00:43:35,393
Well, I don't know, I
feel like I have to ask
914
00:43:35,413 --> 00:43:36,327
you and everyone else what it would mean.
915
00:43:36,347 --> 00:43:37,995
Yeah.
916
00:43:38,015 --> 00:43:39,864
It would mean that we're not alone.
917
00:43:39,884 --> 00:43:43,601
It would mean that we're not
the center of the universe
918
00:43:43,621 --> 00:43:45,755
and it would really expand our horizons
919
00:43:47,559 --> 00:43:49,607
as to what's out there
and who might be out there
920
00:43:49,627 --> 00:43:51,127
as well as who we are.
921
00:43:52,363 --> 00:43:54,546
Who we are, yeah.
922
00:43:54,566 --> 00:43:56,814
The time is now 7:35pm
923
00:43:56,834 --> 00:43:59,617
and the reservation is now closed.
924
00:43:59,637 --> 00:44:01,285
Please kindly gather your belongings
925
00:44:01,305 --> 00:44:04,622
and return to your vehicles
at the main exit gate.
926
00:44:04,642 --> 00:44:06,624
Again, thank you for visiting Walden Pond
927
00:44:06,644 --> 00:44:07,844
and have a great evening.
928
00:44:09,447 --> 00:44:11,162
What's that?
929
00:44:11,182 --> 00:44:12,496
So this axis here has to
930
00:44:12,516 --> 00:44:14,498
point to Polaris, basically and...
931
00:44:14,518 --> 00:44:15,433
Polaris is the North Star?
932
00:44:15,453 --> 00:44:17,168
Yeah, North Star.
933
00:44:17,188 --> 00:44:19,237
Now the cameras.
934
00:44:19,257 --> 00:44:21,039
So this is a one-shot color.
935
00:44:21,059 --> 00:44:22,306
What do you think about,
936
00:44:22,326 --> 00:44:24,108
you know, finding another Earth?
937
00:44:24,128 --> 00:44:26,778
Yeah, I understand the drive,
938
00:44:26,798 --> 00:44:31,049
I understand the curiosity
and the journey of discovery
939
00:44:31,069 --> 00:44:32,784
and the importance of discovery.
940
00:44:32,804 --> 00:44:35,453
And that will change things if we do find
941
00:44:35,473 --> 00:44:37,521
another world that has biosignatures
942
00:44:37,541 --> 00:44:39,523
or evidence of life on it.
943
00:44:39,543 --> 00:44:41,926
But we have life here.
944
00:44:41,946 --> 00:44:44,528
And we have love here and
everything that matters to us,
945
00:44:44,548 --> 00:44:46,063
really, and is important to us,
946
00:44:46,083 --> 00:44:47,250
is right here on this earth.
947
00:44:51,155 --> 00:44:54,824
And, you know, that's what's
important, you know, to me.
948
00:44:57,161 --> 00:44:58,542
You actually found
949
00:44:58,562 --> 00:45:00,211
the love of your life through astronomy.
950
00:45:00,231 --> 00:45:01,813
At an astronomy meeting.
951
00:45:01,833 --> 00:45:06,550
Our eyes met at the wine
and cheese reception before
952
00:45:06,570 --> 00:45:09,353
her talk and I was just
wondering who this person was.
953
00:45:09,373 --> 00:45:11,289
And I didn't know she
was the keynote speaker.
954
00:45:11,309 --> 00:45:13,825
And then the next day she gave another talk
955
00:45:13,845 --> 00:45:16,360
just before lunch and
after that, I decided,
956
00:45:16,380 --> 00:45:18,029
which was probably the
most important decision
957
00:45:18,049 --> 00:45:19,697
I made in my life was to be healthy.
958
00:45:19,717 --> 00:45:21,699
And I decided to get a soup and a salad.
959
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,702
And I walked into the line,
960
00:45:24,722 --> 00:45:26,570
there was a bit of a line
and she turned around
961
00:45:26,590 --> 00:45:29,040
and I asked her, "Would you
like to join me for lunch?"
962
00:45:29,060 --> 00:45:33,444
And she said yes and we got a table
963
00:45:33,464 --> 00:45:36,247
off to the side by ourselves and, you know,
964
00:45:36,267 --> 00:45:37,581
five minutes into that conversation
965
00:45:37,601 --> 00:45:40,251
I knew my life was going to change.
966
00:45:40,271 --> 00:45:42,538
I knew something was going to happen.
967
00:45:46,010 --> 00:45:47,525
Don't let me interrupt you
968
00:45:47,545 --> 00:45:49,126
from continuing with the telescope.
969
00:45:49,146 --> 00:45:50,328
Okay, let's get back at this thing
970
00:45:50,348 --> 00:45:51,948
and we'll see what we can...
971
00:46:03,161 --> 00:46:05,943
I don't really know
why anyone wants to know
972
00:46:05,963 --> 00:46:07,497
why there's life out there.
973
00:46:10,301 --> 00:46:12,468
I guess cause we're kind
of a lonely species.
974
00:46:15,506 --> 00:46:18,207
I think loneliness is a human condition
975
00:46:19,977 --> 00:46:22,159
and everyone's sort of
trapped in their own head.
976
00:46:22,179 --> 00:46:26,482
And we try with our lives in
various ways to be not lonely.
977
00:46:28,386 --> 00:46:31,320
We find friends, partners,
mates, family, you have children.
978
00:46:32,857 --> 00:46:35,173
We're trying to find life elsewhere
979
00:46:35,193 --> 00:46:38,710
because we have a need and
a desire to communicate
980
00:46:38,730 --> 00:46:41,898
and then to connect in any way possible.
981
00:46:45,469 --> 00:46:46,450
Ready?
982
00:46:46,470 --> 00:46:48,185
Okay, Brain, ready.
983
00:46:48,205 --> 00:46:49,721
Okay, we'll try this again.
984
00:46:49,741 --> 00:46:53,976
Layer five on three, two, one.
985
00:46:58,616 --> 00:46:59,949
10 inches of travel.
986
00:47:02,420 --> 00:47:03,420
20 inches of travel.
987
00:47:06,624 --> 00:47:07,824
30 inches of travel.
988
00:47:11,295 --> 00:47:12,328
65 inches of travel.
989
00:47:14,632 --> 00:47:16,032
80 inches of travel.
990
00:47:18,636 --> 00:47:20,369
190 inches of travel.
991
00:47:21,573 --> 00:47:23,421
197.
992
00:47:23,441 --> 00:47:24,540
198.
993
00:47:25,709 --> 00:47:26,809
Fully deployed.
994
00:47:36,788 --> 00:47:39,837
This is hundreds of man years of work.
995
00:47:39,857 --> 00:47:41,505
I don't think it's possible to overstate
996
00:47:41,525 --> 00:47:43,659
how exciting this is.
997
00:47:45,463 --> 00:47:47,378
It's another step, just like
completing the back plane
998
00:47:47,398 --> 00:47:48,497
and completing the mirrors.
999
00:47:50,534 --> 00:47:52,183
I'm going to have a hard time concentrating
1000
00:47:52,203 --> 00:47:54,170
when I take Mom to dinner tonight.
1001
00:47:57,274 --> 00:47:58,307
Yowza, wow.
1002
00:47:59,877 --> 00:48:01,392
Wow, it looks good.
1003
00:48:01,412 --> 00:48:03,394
It looks fantastic.
1004
00:48:03,414 --> 00:48:05,414
All right, imagine you are the Telescope
1005
00:48:09,153 --> 00:48:12,622
looking out on the universe,
looking out on the stars.
1006
00:48:18,830 --> 00:48:22,413
It's going to be dark and
cold out there where this is.
1007
00:48:22,433 --> 00:48:24,348
Imagine yourself frozen.
1008
00:48:24,368 --> 00:48:25,950
It has no company out there,
1009
00:48:25,970 --> 00:48:27,870
out there in orbit, it's all by itself.
1010
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,155
If we see life on another planet,
1011
00:48:31,175 --> 00:48:33,491
I mean, we have to
motivate to go say hello.
1012
00:48:33,511 --> 00:48:34,692
That's it.
1013
00:48:34,712 --> 00:48:36,078
They're there, we're here.
1014
00:49:08,612 --> 00:49:09,745
Just animals.
1015
00:49:12,283 --> 00:49:16,133
Everything in this whole
museum is basically animals.
1016
00:49:16,153 --> 00:49:18,536
Even the tiny ones, but this is just
1017
00:49:18,556 --> 00:49:20,289
a tiny fraction of biodiversity.
1018
00:49:23,227 --> 00:49:25,761
This kind of complexity
doesn't happen easily.
1019
00:49:27,631 --> 00:49:28,612
How did it happen?
1020
00:49:28,632 --> 00:49:30,548
Did it happen here?
1021
00:49:30,568 --> 00:49:32,684
Some people think life started on the land.
1022
00:49:32,704 --> 00:49:35,219
I think it started down
at the bottom of the ocean
1023
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:38,289
in hydrothermal vents
down across the sea floor.
1024
00:49:38,309 --> 00:49:40,024
The one that most people know about
1025
00:49:40,044 --> 00:49:42,560
is a really dynamic system
called black smokers.
1026
00:49:42,580 --> 00:49:44,628
They were amazing because nobody
1027
00:49:44,648 --> 00:49:47,298
expected to see so much life down there.
1028
00:49:47,318 --> 00:49:49,166
Weird forms of life.
1029
00:49:49,186 --> 00:49:50,902
Giant tube worms that don't
have a mouth or an anus
1030
00:49:50,922 --> 00:49:53,104
and enormous clams the
size of dinner plates and...
1031
00:49:53,124 --> 00:49:55,506
A worm that has neither mouth nor anus?
1032
00:49:55,526 --> 00:49:56,707
Yeah.
1033
00:49:56,727 --> 00:49:57,841
How does it eat?
1034
00:49:57,861 --> 00:49:59,377
It doesn't eat.
1035
00:49:59,397 --> 00:50:01,645
I mean, it basically uses the bacteria
1036
00:50:01,665 --> 00:50:05,849
that grow inside it to provide
it with organic molecules.
1037
00:50:05,869 --> 00:50:07,585
Well, there's another kind of vent,
1038
00:50:07,605 --> 00:50:09,520
which I personally think is the answer.
1039
00:50:09,540 --> 00:50:12,256
I like to think of them
as Gothic cathedrals.
1040
00:50:12,276 --> 00:50:14,792
Beautiful architecture in the rock.
1041
00:50:14,812 --> 00:50:18,462
They're actually formed by
a much more gentle process.
1042
00:50:18,482 --> 00:50:20,664
Water will percolate down
beneath the ocean floor
1043
00:50:20,684 --> 00:50:23,601
and there's a particular type of mineral.
1044
00:50:23,621 --> 00:50:25,469
It's called olivine.
1045
00:50:25,489 --> 00:50:27,538
You find it as dust
throughout interstellar space.
1046
00:50:27,558 --> 00:50:29,340
This is a really common mineral.
1047
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:31,408
And the thing is it will react with water
1048
00:50:31,428 --> 00:50:33,611
bubbling hydrogen gas out.
1049
00:50:33,631 --> 00:50:35,279
And that's basically an environment
1050
00:50:35,299 --> 00:50:36,665
that's giving rise to life.
1051
00:50:37,969 --> 00:50:39,350
Do you think that
1052
00:50:39,370 --> 00:50:41,352
there's life out there beyond the Earth?
1053
00:50:41,372 --> 00:50:43,955
I think we hope that there's going to be
1054
00:50:43,975 --> 00:50:47,158
lots of amazing complex life out there,
1055
00:50:47,178 --> 00:50:50,894
kind of semi human in the way
that it interacts with us.
1056
00:50:50,914 --> 00:50:51,762
And I think we're likely to be
1057
00:50:51,782 --> 00:50:53,697
quite disappointed about that.
1058
00:50:53,717 --> 00:50:55,566
You know, maybe we should
be interacting with
1059
00:50:55,586 --> 00:50:57,466
life on our own planet
in a more meaningful way.
1060
00:51:04,461 --> 00:51:05,776
How far can you push a planet
1061
00:51:05,796 --> 00:51:07,311
in one direction or the other and
1062
00:51:07,331 --> 00:51:09,265
still have it capable of sustaining life?
1063
00:51:11,335 --> 00:51:13,184
During graduate school I would walk from
1064
00:51:13,204 --> 00:51:16,587
the astronomy department down
to family-student housing.
1065
00:51:16,607 --> 00:51:18,990
We were studying comparative planetology
1066
00:51:19,010 --> 00:51:21,993
and my head was full of these images of
1067
00:51:22,013 --> 00:51:26,597
Mercury, Mars, Venus, even the moon,
1068
00:51:26,617 --> 00:51:28,265
all of these lifeless worlds.
1069
00:51:28,285 --> 00:51:31,468
And so walking from the
department, you come up a knoll
1070
00:51:31,488 --> 00:51:34,071
and you all of a sudden emerge
from the redwood forests
1071
00:51:34,091 --> 00:51:37,875
open up onto this big
meadow, but you're up high.
1072
00:51:37,895 --> 00:51:40,678
So you see it as this very thin veneer
1073
00:51:40,698 --> 00:51:42,598
of life stretched out before you.
1074
00:51:44,501 --> 00:51:46,417
It looked like I could just
reach out and wipe it away
1075
00:51:46,437 --> 00:51:49,887
with a sponge, you know, like
cleaning the kitchen counter.
1076
00:51:49,907 --> 00:51:52,289
And I just had that feeling that
1077
00:51:52,309 --> 00:51:54,892
the difference between a living world
1078
00:51:54,912 --> 00:51:59,230
and a lifeless world was a small,
1079
00:51:59,250 --> 00:52:01,917
tiny difference, like
an accident, you know.
1080
00:52:15,599 --> 00:52:17,848
It's been a rough spring start but we had
1081
00:52:17,868 --> 00:52:19,116
a lot of heavy snow in February.
1082
00:52:19,136 --> 00:52:20,451
I mean a lot.
1083
00:52:20,471 --> 00:52:21,852
It was like every other day.
1084
00:52:21,872 --> 00:52:23,454
It would snow about 10 to 12 inches.
1085
00:52:23,474 --> 00:52:24,722
And the disasters are getting worse
1086
00:52:24,742 --> 00:52:26,123
and they're getting stronger.
1087
00:52:26,143 --> 00:52:27,591
There's so many people who don't...
1088
00:52:27,611 --> 00:52:29,126
they're like, "This is how it is."
1089
00:52:29,146 --> 00:52:30,394
You mean climate change deniers?
1090
00:52:30,414 --> 00:52:31,995
Well, like there's more fires.
1091
00:52:32,015 --> 00:52:33,464
There's more earthquakes.
1092
00:52:33,484 --> 00:52:34,598
They're happening more frequently.
1093
00:52:34,618 --> 00:52:36,333
There's more tornadoes.
1094
00:52:36,353 --> 00:52:37,801
It's like, a couple blocks away
1095
00:52:37,821 --> 00:52:40,271
there's big trees that are down, roots up.
1096
00:52:40,291 --> 00:52:42,273
And there's another cell coming
1097
00:52:42,293 --> 00:52:44,141
that looks just as bad as last night's.
1098
00:52:44,161 --> 00:52:45,543
It's bad.
1099
00:52:45,563 --> 00:52:47,010
And there it is.
1100
00:52:47,030 --> 00:52:47,945
Yeah, there's another storm coming, yeah.
1101
00:52:47,965 --> 00:52:49,613
Yeah, another one.
1102
00:52:49,633 --> 00:52:51,367
We're battening up the hatches.
1103
00:52:53,036 --> 00:52:56,153
Hi, I'm just leaving the farmer's market.
1104
00:52:56,173 --> 00:52:58,355
Could you look at the radar
1105
00:52:58,375 --> 00:53:01,024
and plan what to do with the bees?
1106
00:53:01,044 --> 00:53:04,495
We're on the blue dot and
it's moving in our direction.
1107
00:53:04,515 --> 00:53:06,430
It looks pretty bad.
1108
00:53:06,450 --> 00:53:07,564
The latest climate data
1109
00:53:07,584 --> 00:53:09,366
that broke last week proved that
1110
00:53:09,386 --> 00:53:12,021
the whole environmental
movement is a power grab.
1111
00:53:13,056 --> 00:53:15,439
The global warmists are a cult.
1112
00:53:15,459 --> 00:53:17,975
- Thanks for being open.
- Yeah.
1113
00:53:17,995 --> 00:53:20,511
Amidst the storms here.
1114
00:53:20,531 --> 00:53:21,912
So this is beautiful.
1115
00:53:21,932 --> 00:53:23,647
We can put it together for you.
1116
00:53:23,667 --> 00:53:25,048
It's been a while since I've
1117
00:53:25,068 --> 00:53:26,984
been shooting and I really miss it.
1118
00:53:27,004 --> 00:53:28,452
Yeah, you used to shoot a lot.
1119
00:53:28,472 --> 00:53:29,520
I need to do it again.
1120
00:53:29,540 --> 00:53:30,922
Before, didn't you?
1121
00:53:30,942 --> 00:53:32,790
Yeah, I've been writing proposals
1122
00:53:32,810 --> 00:53:34,792
to the federal government
to fund my teams to fly
1123
00:53:34,812 --> 00:53:37,995
space missions and look for
life on other planets and...
1124
00:53:38,015 --> 00:53:39,597
Yeah, have you found it yet?
1125
00:53:39,617 --> 00:53:44,267
No, but we're getting ever closer.
1126
00:53:44,287 --> 00:53:45,736
Do you believe there's life out there?
1127
00:53:45,756 --> 00:53:47,404
I feel like, how can there not be?
1128
00:53:47,424 --> 00:53:49,140
This one planet is so full of it.
1129
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:54,077
It's hard to imagine how
that could happen here,
1130
00:53:54,097 --> 00:53:56,747
so richly, and then everywhere else
1131
00:53:56,767 --> 00:53:59,416
in the whole universe
is just a sterile rock.
1132
00:53:59,436 --> 00:54:03,754
Surely life arises when
the conditions are right.
1133
00:54:03,774 --> 00:54:05,823
Hmm, it's interesting topic.
1134
00:54:05,843 --> 00:54:07,291
Yeah.
1135
00:54:07,311 --> 00:54:09,827
Yeah, I started listening to some podcasts.
1136
00:54:09,847 --> 00:54:11,162
I know he's very controversial,
1137
00:54:11,182 --> 00:54:13,096
but I was listening to one with Alex Jones
1138
00:54:13,116 --> 00:54:15,232
and some of the stuff he talks about
1139
00:54:15,252 --> 00:54:17,968
was like really, really interesting.
1140
00:54:17,988 --> 00:54:19,970
If there is other life forms,
1141
00:54:19,990 --> 00:54:22,173
not just humans or aliens or
1142
00:54:22,193 --> 00:54:24,375
it could be plants or anything, you know,
1143
00:54:24,395 --> 00:54:28,646
just something else out
there besides our Earth.
1144
00:54:28,666 --> 00:54:31,649
San Francisco is the main project site.
1145
00:54:31,669 --> 00:54:34,852
Literally have an alien base and they are
1146
00:54:34,872 --> 00:54:36,987
literally communicating
and they've got like
1147
00:54:37,007 --> 00:54:39,857
astronaut level people
taking super hardcore
1148
00:54:39,877 --> 00:54:42,526
levels of drugs and going into
meetings with these things
1149
00:54:42,546 --> 00:54:44,446
and making intergalactic deals.
1150
00:54:47,751 --> 00:54:50,067
You didn't actually think you were
1151
00:54:50,087 --> 00:54:51,669
the only inhabited planet in the universe?
1152
00:54:51,689 --> 00:54:53,122
Shh, listen.
1153
00:54:55,026 --> 00:54:57,208
Uh, I'm from SETI,
1154
00:54:57,228 --> 00:54:59,662
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
1155
00:55:07,038 --> 00:55:08,151
So if the aliens get here,
1156
00:55:08,171 --> 00:55:09,953
are they going to wipe us out?
1157
00:55:09,973 --> 00:55:12,890
Well, I think that if they can get here,
1158
00:55:12,910 --> 00:55:14,425
that means that their technology
1159
00:55:14,445 --> 00:55:16,159
is significantly in advance of ours.
1160
00:55:16,179 --> 00:55:18,495
So they're older than we are.
1161
00:55:18,515 --> 00:55:21,032
And how did they get to be old?
1162
00:55:21,052 --> 00:55:25,502
Because they outgrew all of the aggression
1163
00:55:25,522 --> 00:55:28,439
that was probably part of their evolution
1164
00:55:28,459 --> 00:55:30,241
to become intelligent.
1165
00:55:30,261 --> 00:55:34,311
We show many different
indications that we won't make it.
1166
00:55:34,331 --> 00:55:37,715
That we will in fact do ourselves in before
1167
00:55:37,735 --> 00:55:41,052
we become an old
technological civilization.
1168
00:55:41,072 --> 00:55:44,788
So if they can get here,
I'm more inclined to
1169
00:55:44,808 --> 00:55:46,924
talk with them rather than worry about
1170
00:55:46,944 --> 00:55:48,177
them eating me for breakfast.
1171
00:55:50,147 --> 00:55:53,931
I was sent last night, a link
to an old Johnny Carson show,
1172
00:55:53,951 --> 00:55:55,933
from the late 70s, with Carl Sagan.
1173
00:55:55,953 --> 00:55:57,468
I mean, here he is, a professor of
1174
00:55:57,488 --> 00:55:59,870
astronomy and space sciences at Cornell.
1175
00:55:59,890 --> 00:56:01,805
Director of the Laboratory
for Planetary Study.
1176
00:56:01,825 --> 00:56:03,726
Would you welcome please Dr. Carl Sagan.
1177
00:56:05,763 --> 00:56:07,643
This is just about
reaching the Trappist system.
1178
00:56:09,300 --> 00:56:10,681
You're looking for
1179
00:56:10,701 --> 00:56:12,149
extraterrestrial intelligence, right?
1180
00:56:12,169 --> 00:56:13,884
How do you go about looking?
1181
00:56:13,904 --> 00:56:15,753
It's little like this. If you're an
1182
00:56:15,773 --> 00:56:18,155
advanced civilization and
you wish to communicate
1183
00:56:18,175 --> 00:56:22,626
to a backward civilization,
you talk slow and simple.
1184
00:56:22,646 --> 00:56:24,962
And obviously we would be
1185
00:56:24,982 --> 00:56:26,096
the backward civilization because
1186
00:56:26,116 --> 00:56:27,983
we do not have that capability.
1187
00:56:30,053 --> 00:56:31,969
People are going to ask
you, "What is the value?"
1188
00:56:31,989 --> 00:56:35,106
We are at a very dangerous
moment in human history.
1189
00:56:35,126 --> 00:56:39,777
We are in the process of
inadvertently altering our climate
1190
00:56:39,797 --> 00:56:43,314
and all kinds of problems,
which come with technology.
1191
00:56:43,334 --> 00:56:45,649
We are not certain that
we will be able to survive
1192
00:56:45,669 --> 00:56:48,652
this period that I like to
call technological adolescence.
1193
00:56:48,672 --> 00:56:52,055
But were we to receive a
message from somewhere else,
1194
00:56:52,075 --> 00:56:54,057
it would show that it's possible
1195
00:56:54,077 --> 00:56:55,659
to survive this kind of period.
1196
00:56:55,679 --> 00:56:57,260
Now wouldn't that be something.
1197
00:56:57,280 --> 00:56:58,996
In other words somebody has solved
1198
00:56:59,016 --> 00:57:00,998
a particular problem we
are still wrestling with.
1199
00:57:01,018 --> 00:57:03,133
It's good to
know the problem can be solved.
1200
00:57:03,153 --> 00:57:04,553
I think it would be very useful.
1201
00:57:07,424 --> 00:57:09,224
We going to find them in your lifetime?
1202
00:57:11,028 --> 00:57:13,276
I don't know how long I'm going to live.
1203
00:57:13,296 --> 00:57:15,212
I know we're going to try and look.
1204
00:57:15,232 --> 00:57:16,547
We keep trying.
1205
00:57:16,567 --> 00:57:17,567
We do keep trying trying.
1206
00:57:38,855 --> 00:57:41,505
The James Webb Telescope
will achieve its mission,
1207
00:57:41,525 --> 00:57:43,306
but we have to go through
all of the engineering
1208
00:57:43,326 --> 00:57:44,775
and all the checkouts to make sure
1209
00:57:44,795 --> 00:57:46,829
that that is indeed a fact.
1210
00:57:49,066 --> 00:57:51,248
Eventually we'll go all the
way through the Panama Canal
1211
00:57:51,268 --> 00:57:54,317
to French Guiana where the
Europeans have their launch site.
1212
00:57:54,337 --> 00:57:56,186
And they're providing the
rocket and the Telescope
1213
00:57:56,206 --> 00:57:58,121
will go up from there a million miles
1214
00:57:58,141 --> 00:57:59,842
out into space and get ready to work.
1215
00:58:04,481 --> 00:58:06,797
This is where we're
going to test the telescope
1216
00:58:06,817 --> 00:58:09,318
and its detectors in a
space-like environment.
1217
00:58:11,088 --> 00:58:14,223
Chamber A was originally
built for the Apollo program
1218
00:58:16,093 --> 00:58:18,861
to test the command module
with the astronauts in it.
1219
00:58:20,431 --> 00:58:22,279
We're here building on the legacy that
1220
00:58:22,299 --> 00:58:24,014
the country built in the 60s.
1221
00:58:24,034 --> 00:58:25,949
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Webb,
1222
00:58:25,969 --> 00:58:28,151
the director of the space program.
1223
00:58:28,171 --> 00:58:30,221
Ladies and gentlemen...
1224
00:58:30,241 --> 00:58:33,757
James Webb was the
administrator early on in NASA's life,
1225
00:58:33,777 --> 00:58:36,026
during the early stages
of the Apollo program,
1226
00:58:36,046 --> 00:58:38,295
working with Kennedy to
establish that program
1227
00:58:38,315 --> 00:58:40,431
to get us up to landing on the moon.
1228
00:58:40,451 --> 00:58:43,051
It was that commitment
to science that he had.
1229
00:58:46,790 --> 00:58:48,772
Now, we still have a bunch of
1230
00:58:48,792 --> 00:58:50,707
environmental testings that we have to do,
1231
00:58:50,727 --> 00:58:53,644
vibration testing and acoustics testing,
1232
00:58:53,664 --> 00:58:55,178
because what we want to do is make sure
1233
00:58:55,198 --> 00:58:56,913
now it survives the rocket launch,
1234
00:58:56,933 --> 00:58:59,133
which is still the most violent
environment that we see.
1235
00:59:03,474 --> 00:59:05,188
We bring it in here,
1236
00:59:05,208 --> 00:59:08,592
the sunshield in its stowed cocoon state.
1237
00:59:08,612 --> 00:59:12,681
We subject this to the
sound noise of the rocket.
1238
00:59:14,351 --> 00:59:18,135
Because when the rocket launches
it doesn't just vibrate,
1239
00:59:18,155 --> 00:59:19,922
it also hits you with sound waves.
1240
00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:25,342
And it pushes on you with pressure.
1241
00:59:25,362 --> 00:59:27,945
And we need to prove that our
vehicle will survive that.
1242
00:59:27,965 --> 00:59:30,347
So we hit this thing with what's called
1243
00:59:30,367 --> 00:59:33,150
protoflight acoustic test levels
1244
00:59:33,170 --> 00:59:36,237
and we run it across a frequency spectrum.
1245
00:59:48,318 --> 00:59:50,834
We found a screw and a nut.
1246
00:59:50,854 --> 00:59:54,638
We had a few dozen that
actually separated in this test
1247
00:59:54,658 --> 00:59:57,159
because there's a thousand
of these little screws.
1248
00:59:59,730 --> 01:00:01,444
You know, there's probably
a lot of people on
1249
01:00:01,464 --> 01:00:03,180
high floors of buildings waiting to hear
1250
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:04,399
that Webb has made it today.
1251
01:00:05,936 --> 01:00:07,450
We're kind of in, say, one of the
1252
01:00:07,470 --> 01:00:08,919
more humbling points on a career,
1253
01:00:08,939 --> 01:00:11,321
when you know you have to go tell people
1254
01:00:11,341 --> 01:00:13,108
that test wasn't successful.
1255
01:00:22,886 --> 01:00:24,920
The Subcommittee on Space
will now come to order.
1256
01:00:26,690 --> 01:00:28,539
Today's hearing we'll
focus on the serious issues
1257
01:00:28,559 --> 01:00:32,075
associated with the James
Webb Space Telescope.
1258
01:00:32,095 --> 01:00:36,079
When we integrated the
spacecraft element and did testing,
1259
01:00:36,099 --> 01:00:38,549
we made all kinds of discoveries
that were unfortunate
1260
01:00:38,569 --> 01:00:40,884
and not just unfortunate, problematic.
1261
01:00:40,904 --> 01:00:44,154
Although I've heard
testimony how important it is.
1262
01:00:44,174 --> 01:00:45,689
I understand that.
1263
01:00:45,709 --> 01:00:49,026
It's very frustrating to
me and other taxpayers
1264
01:00:49,046 --> 01:00:51,762
that this is so much of a cost overrun.
1265
01:00:51,782 --> 01:00:54,965
Every screw has to have its quality tested.
1266
01:00:54,985 --> 01:00:57,234
I can tell you, this is about the
1267
01:00:57,254 --> 01:00:59,502
biggest screw job I've ever seen.
1268
01:00:59,522 --> 01:01:02,706
And it's the taxpayers who
are getting screwed here.
1269
01:01:02,726 --> 01:01:06,109
We want to make these
mistakes here on Earth
1270
01:01:06,129 --> 01:01:08,645
because that mistake, if it was in space,
1271
01:01:08,665 --> 01:01:10,180
it would be too late.
1272
01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:11,299
It can't be fixed.
1273
01:01:27,350 --> 01:01:28,398
Once we install it, it's there
1274
01:01:28,418 --> 01:01:29,851
for the rest of the mission.
1275
01:01:32,489 --> 01:01:34,471
So we've got to get it
right the first time.
1276
01:01:34,491 --> 01:01:36,940
And then it gets ready to go?
1277
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:38,208
It's still got a lot more testing.
1278
01:01:38,228 --> 01:01:40,010
Oh.
1279
01:01:40,030 --> 01:01:42,012
And assembly to withstand launch.
1280
01:01:42,032 --> 01:01:45,482
Now all I have to do is live to see it go.
1281
01:01:45,502 --> 01:01:47,217
No, you got to make it till your
1282
01:01:47,237 --> 01:01:49,019
grandchildren get out of college.
1283
01:01:49,039 --> 01:01:51,288
And that will happen after we launch.
1284
01:01:51,308 --> 01:01:52,308
That's true.
1285
01:02:13,930 --> 01:02:15,712
What do you think about when you
1286
01:02:15,732 --> 01:02:18,048
contemplate our cousins and our ancestors?
1287
01:02:18,068 --> 01:02:19,434
Mortality.
1288
01:02:20,871 --> 01:02:22,437
Well, as a species?
1289
01:02:23,940 --> 01:02:28,176
Well, I mean it's more and more clear that
1290
01:02:29,746 --> 01:02:31,462
you know, looking at these skulls,
1291
01:02:31,482 --> 01:02:36,399
that there have been numerous human species
1292
01:02:36,419 --> 01:02:38,335
and they've all gone extinct apart from us,
1293
01:02:38,355 --> 01:02:42,539
usually because of us, usually
after interbreeding with us.
1294
01:02:42,559 --> 01:02:45,408
Do you feel some guilt when you
look into those ice sockets?
1295
01:02:45,428 --> 01:02:46,428
I do.
1296
01:02:47,698 --> 01:02:49,279
Why?
1297
01:02:49,299 --> 01:02:51,014
Because we know about this history.
1298
01:02:51,034 --> 01:02:53,416
There's some guilt in
human history in the way
1299
01:02:53,436 --> 01:02:57,554
that we've dealt with other human species.
1300
01:02:57,574 --> 01:03:02,225
Our own history dealing,
different racial history and so on.
1301
01:03:02,245 --> 01:03:04,027
We need to learn.
1302
01:03:04,047 --> 01:03:06,207
How do we bring the best side
out in our own societies?
1303
01:03:09,452 --> 01:03:11,434
You know, we're within touching distance of
1304
01:03:11,454 --> 01:03:14,170
at least finding out.
1305
01:03:14,190 --> 01:03:17,908
And the idea that we might
find life is an exciting one.
1306
01:03:17,928 --> 01:03:20,443
Though, what do we expect to see out there?
1307
01:03:20,463 --> 01:03:22,245
If it's not nothing,
1308
01:03:22,265 --> 01:03:24,447
the overwhelming likelihood
is it's bacteria.
1309
01:03:24,467 --> 01:03:27,650
And if we see somehow that
we've got way beyond bacteria
1310
01:03:27,670 --> 01:03:31,187
to large complex life, that means this.
1311
01:03:31,207 --> 01:03:33,323
It means microscopic life.
1312
01:03:33,343 --> 01:03:34,810
It means tiny animals.
1313
01:03:35,746 --> 01:03:37,528
It's a wealth of life.
1314
01:03:37,548 --> 01:03:39,596
And yet, somehow I think most
people will be disappointed
1315
01:03:39,616 --> 01:03:43,133
if all they found was microscopic sludge.
1316
01:03:43,153 --> 01:03:44,667
Would you be disappointed?
1317
01:03:44,687 --> 01:03:48,605
No, I think I would be
astonished to find that.
1318
01:03:48,625 --> 01:03:51,660
To find anything more than
bacteria, I would be astonished.
1319
01:03:54,565 --> 01:03:57,614
Perhaps part of the point of
looking out there for life
1320
01:03:57,634 --> 01:03:59,482
is to realize just how valuable
1321
01:03:59,502 --> 01:04:00,802
the life is that we have here.
1322
01:04:12,715 --> 01:04:16,032
Physically, evolution
made us, biology made us
1323
01:04:16,052 --> 01:04:19,302
but the things of biology
were created in stars.
1324
01:04:19,322 --> 01:04:22,705
The water, the carbon,
the nitrogen, the oxygen.
1325
01:04:22,725 --> 01:04:24,559
All of that was created in stars.
1326
01:04:26,930 --> 01:04:28,578
People will say, "Well, if there are
1327
01:04:28,598 --> 01:04:30,781
10 to the 22 stars out there,
1328
01:04:30,801 --> 01:04:32,834
there must be more life than just us."
1329
01:04:34,737 --> 01:04:36,787
However, it turns out the
number of coincidences
1330
01:04:36,807 --> 01:04:38,721
that have to occur for life to emerge
1331
01:04:38,741 --> 01:04:40,442
is also a very large number.
1332
01:04:42,078 --> 01:04:44,527
We have to have a star like our sun
1333
01:04:44,547 --> 01:04:47,130
that lives at least 10 billion years old.
1334
01:04:47,150 --> 01:04:48,665
It has to be in exactly the right
1335
01:04:48,685 --> 01:04:50,600
part of the galaxy to start with.
1336
01:04:50,620 --> 01:04:52,269
We might need to have a moon.
1337
01:04:52,289 --> 01:04:54,204
We might need to have geothermal,
1338
01:04:54,224 --> 01:04:56,473
cause we need a magnetic
field to protect us.
1339
01:04:56,493 --> 01:04:59,142
And then evolution had to happen.
1340
01:04:59,162 --> 01:05:00,811
And then you keep on going and, well,
1341
01:05:00,831 --> 01:05:02,545
you know, the dinosaurs evolved
and they were around for,
1342
01:05:02,565 --> 01:05:04,414
I don't know, 100, 200 million years.
1343
01:05:04,434 --> 01:05:06,082
Nothing happened.
1344
01:05:06,102 --> 01:05:07,617
They didn't evolve into anything.
1345
01:05:07,637 --> 01:05:09,152
They got bigger and bigger and bigger.
1346
01:05:09,172 --> 01:05:10,887
And then the meteor came
and wiped them all out.
1347
01:05:10,907 --> 01:05:14,557
And then these small warm
blooded animals evolved to us.
1348
01:05:14,577 --> 01:05:16,292
But that was an accident.
1349
01:05:16,312 --> 01:05:17,494
How many accidents need to happen
1350
01:05:17,514 --> 01:05:19,362
for intelligent life to form?
1351
01:05:19,382 --> 01:05:21,917
We just don't know because we
only have us, the one example.
1352
01:05:23,786 --> 01:05:27,170
It might only be one part in
10 to the 22 that life emerged.
1353
01:05:27,190 --> 01:05:28,456
So we could actually be alone.
1354
01:05:37,000 --> 01:05:39,049
And you know, I had
all these accomplishments
1355
01:05:39,069 --> 01:05:42,385
I became a professor
and then I got married.
1356
01:05:42,405 --> 01:05:43,854
I had like the perfect husband,
1357
01:05:43,874 --> 01:05:45,988
perfect kids and the perfect house.
1358
01:05:46,008 --> 01:05:47,390
I had everything.
1359
01:05:47,410 --> 01:05:48,859
And I had such a great life.
1360
01:05:48,879 --> 01:05:50,745
And then my husband got sick and he died.
1361
01:05:53,283 --> 01:05:54,883
And so after that, what do you do?
1362
01:05:56,286 --> 01:05:57,800
What do you do next?
1363
01:05:57,820 --> 01:05:59,669
Like you can't return to
your everyday existence
1364
01:05:59,689 --> 01:06:01,137
and just like cook dinner.
1365
01:06:01,157 --> 01:06:02,873
Which I never did and I still don't.
1366
01:06:02,893 --> 01:06:05,742
But it's just the sort of
thing that you can relate to.
1367
01:06:05,762 --> 01:06:07,410
You know, I just can't explain it
1368
01:06:07,430 --> 01:06:08,811
but the everyday normal things you do,
1369
01:06:08,831 --> 01:06:10,332
they're just meaningless.
1370
01:06:13,436 --> 01:06:14,751
I went to my book club and the women were
1371
01:06:14,771 --> 01:06:16,619
complaining about their husbands.
1372
01:06:16,639 --> 01:06:17,754
Like, "Who's gonna pick up the kid?"
1373
01:06:17,774 --> 01:06:19,956
And I'm like, "Give me a break."
1374
01:06:19,976 --> 01:06:23,493
You know, I just couldn't live
with normal people anymore.
1375
01:06:23,513 --> 01:06:25,495
I realized that whatever
I was going to do next
1376
01:06:25,515 --> 01:06:26,629
would be impactful.
1377
01:06:26,649 --> 01:06:27,649
Why waste time?
1378
01:06:34,791 --> 01:06:36,907
Out of all my accomplishments in life,
1379
01:06:36,927 --> 01:06:38,575
helping my husband have a death,
1380
01:06:38,595 --> 01:06:40,729
like a perfect death, was
probably my biggest one.
1381
01:06:43,333 --> 01:06:45,533
It was really sad when I, when he,
1382
01:06:47,270 --> 01:06:49,051
it's sort of funny but sad, but I told him
1383
01:06:49,071 --> 01:06:50,787
before he died his death
would have meaning and that,
1384
01:06:50,807 --> 01:06:55,377
you know, I'm trying to
describe it in a way that
1385
01:06:56,947 --> 01:06:58,267
will be funny, but it's too hard.
1386
01:07:02,953 --> 01:07:04,334
Well, just give me a second cause I
1387
01:07:04,354 --> 01:07:06,269
really want to tell you, it's really funny.
1388
01:07:06,289 --> 01:07:08,004
It was like, "Mike, you
know your death has meaning.
1389
01:07:08,024 --> 01:07:10,073
I'm going to do big things
because I've realized
1390
01:07:10,093 --> 01:07:12,394
it's, you know, things that matter."
1391
01:07:14,431 --> 01:07:16,546
And he just like, it was funny
cause he could barely talk.
1392
01:07:16,566 --> 01:07:17,814
Like if you know anyone who's dying,
1393
01:07:17,834 --> 01:07:19,616
they're not able to communicate.
1394
01:07:19,636 --> 01:07:21,084
And he just looks at me and goes,
1395
01:07:21,104 --> 01:07:22,664
"Sarah, you would have done it anyway."
1396
01:07:23,974 --> 01:07:26,007
And that was one of our last conversations.
1397
01:07:34,517 --> 01:07:35,898
It's not that I have to
1398
01:07:35,918 --> 01:07:37,367
find the Earth and name it after him.
1399
01:07:37,387 --> 01:07:39,035
It's more of the search for meaning
1400
01:07:39,055 --> 01:07:40,837
and how to live a meaningful life
1401
01:07:40,857 --> 01:07:43,706
and how to do something that
actually makes a difference.
1402
01:07:43,726 --> 01:07:44,726
That's his legacy.
1403
01:07:47,063 --> 01:07:48,645
I have to have meaning.
1404
01:07:48,665 --> 01:07:50,513
I have to do something
that has some importance
1405
01:07:50,533 --> 01:07:52,533
as seen by myself because
otherwise I have nothing.
1406
01:07:53,736 --> 01:07:54,869
Does that make sense?
1407
01:08:16,226 --> 01:08:18,675
So, can I just be really blunt with you?
1408
01:08:18,695 --> 01:08:20,743
Sure.
1409
01:08:20,763 --> 01:08:24,732
While I understand there's
a longer story arc to this,
1410
01:08:26,503 --> 01:08:28,818
this very complicated and
very expensive mission
1411
01:08:28,838 --> 01:08:30,905
that has been delayed yet again.
1412
01:08:33,043 --> 01:08:35,225
I can shoot bull's eyes all day and then
1413
01:08:35,245 --> 01:08:36,826
as soon as somebody comes along and says,
1414
01:08:36,846 --> 01:08:39,562
"Oh, you're doing really well," it's over.
1415
01:08:39,582 --> 01:08:40,849
No, I won't hit a thing.
1416
01:08:44,054 --> 01:08:47,437
At some point, the only
thing that can save you
1417
01:08:47,457 --> 01:08:49,439
would be somebody high
level in the administration
1418
01:08:49,459 --> 01:08:52,575
who just says, "We're
devoting the resources."
1419
01:08:52,595 --> 01:08:54,662
And Congress would have to back that up.
1420
01:08:56,799 --> 01:08:59,249
If you're going to do
something, just do it right.
1421
01:08:59,269 --> 01:09:00,917
Now, see there's, that's good, that's good.
1422
01:09:00,937 --> 01:09:04,939
Yeah, so that's more accurate and precise.
1423
01:09:06,676 --> 01:09:09,792
We only have, not only
just one precious planet,
1424
01:09:09,812 --> 01:09:14,864
it's this time, the specific time of now,
1425
01:09:14,884 --> 01:09:16,999
where we have to live.
1426
01:09:17,019 --> 01:09:18,601
What are you tasting?
1427
01:09:18,621 --> 01:09:19,736
What are you tasting?
1428
01:09:19,756 --> 01:09:21,404
Tasting something?
1429
01:09:21,424 --> 01:09:23,858
It's taking the salt off
my fingers right now.
1430
01:09:26,229 --> 01:09:28,945
I hope, you know, for
the sake of all of us,
1431
01:09:28,965 --> 01:09:32,348
I hope that JW just gets
off the ground, flies,
1432
01:09:32,368 --> 01:09:35,017
and does well at everything that it does
1433
01:09:35,037 --> 01:09:37,105
and performs all of its objectives.
1434
01:09:46,248 --> 01:09:47,229
Hey.
1435
01:09:47,249 --> 01:09:48,831
Hello.
1436
01:09:48,851 --> 01:09:50,567
So it sounds like we should stick with
1437
01:09:50,587 --> 01:09:52,502
Trappist-1E and then look
at this plan in detail
1438
01:09:52,522 --> 01:09:54,437
and make sure that we have it finalized.
1439
01:09:54,457 --> 01:09:56,839
This is our observation plan, you mean?
1440
01:09:56,859 --> 01:09:58,641
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
1441
01:09:58,661 --> 01:10:00,710
It's going to be a really good
test of the telescope itself.
1442
01:10:00,730 --> 01:10:03,646
I'd be really interested
to understand, you know,
1443
01:10:03,666 --> 01:10:06,583
if they are tidally locked, like the moon.
1444
01:10:06,603 --> 01:10:08,184
Like, what that means for having
1445
01:10:08,204 --> 01:10:10,520
a permanent day and a permanent night side.
1446
01:10:10,540 --> 01:10:13,123
There would be some people
who would constantly be
1447
01:10:13,143 --> 01:10:14,857
living in daylight and then other people
1448
01:10:14,877 --> 01:10:17,260
who would be constantly living in darkness?
1449
01:10:17,280 --> 01:10:20,330
Right and the best place
to be on these planets
1450
01:10:20,350 --> 01:10:23,466
would probably be
perpetual twilight, right?
1451
01:10:23,486 --> 01:10:25,668
Or right around the...
Right, right at the rim.
1452
01:10:25,688 --> 01:10:27,604
And what that would be like,
1453
01:10:27,624 --> 01:10:30,272
because living in the arctic
and you living through
1454
01:10:30,292 --> 01:10:33,810
perpetual twilight, it's
a very strange experience.
1455
01:10:33,830 --> 01:10:35,145
Do we know what
1456
01:10:35,165 --> 01:10:36,746
the temperature differences would be?
1457
01:10:36,766 --> 01:10:37,880
As long as there's air.
1458
01:10:37,900 --> 01:10:39,149
Air is very good.
1459
01:10:39,169 --> 01:10:40,529
They have substantial atmospheres.
1460
01:10:41,904 --> 01:10:43,620
My favorite thing about Trappist
1461
01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:45,421
is that if you're on the
surface of one of the planets
1462
01:10:45,441 --> 01:10:48,625
you can see the other
planets resolved in the sky.
1463
01:10:48,645 --> 01:10:50,760
Yeah, bigger than the moon, right?
1464
01:10:50,780 --> 01:10:52,629
So it would never have been a question of,
1465
01:10:52,649 --> 01:10:54,816
you know, is the Earth,
the center of the universe?
1466
01:10:56,052 --> 01:10:57,767
I mean, it's crazy to think that
1467
01:10:57,787 --> 01:10:59,702
Trappist being 39 light years away
1468
01:10:59,722 --> 01:11:02,772
means that they can hear what we were doing
1469
01:11:02,792 --> 01:11:05,093
on radio and television 39 years ago.
1470
01:11:06,729 --> 01:11:09,179
The first years of Reagan, Madonna.
1471
01:11:09,199 --> 01:11:10,780
What do you think they think about us?
1472
01:11:10,800 --> 01:11:12,248
Do you think that they would think
1473
01:11:12,268 --> 01:11:14,450
that we're going in the right direction?
1474
01:11:14,470 --> 01:11:17,187
Interesting question, I like that one.
1475
01:11:17,207 --> 01:11:19,322
Well, so if they're monitoring our culture,
1476
01:11:19,342 --> 01:11:21,123
they're also monitoring like any sort of
1477
01:11:21,143 --> 01:11:24,260
atmospheric signals as well, right?
1478
01:11:24,280 --> 01:11:25,795
Yeah.
1479
01:11:25,815 --> 01:11:27,597
So they're probably watching, you know,
1480
01:11:27,617 --> 01:11:29,131
our carbon dioxide
emissions and all of this
1481
01:11:29,151 --> 01:11:30,800
and probably thinking...
1482
01:11:30,820 --> 01:11:33,954
"What are they doing down there?"
1483
01:12:07,523 --> 01:12:11,107
We cannot say this loudly enough
1484
01:12:11,127 --> 01:12:14,176
or clearly enough or often enough.
1485
01:12:14,196 --> 01:12:18,466
All countries can still change
the course of this pandemic.
1486
01:12:37,687 --> 01:12:39,201
There is no planet B!
1487
01:12:39,221 --> 01:12:42,071
There is no planet B, there is no planet B!
1488
01:12:42,091 --> 01:12:43,806
If we destroy this planet,
1489
01:12:43,826 --> 01:12:45,007
there is no other planet to go to.
1490
01:12:45,027 --> 01:12:46,876
We only have one planet.
1491
01:12:46,896 --> 01:12:48,611
I want to be able to have kids.
1492
01:12:48,631 --> 01:12:49,946
I want my kids to be able
to swim in the ocean,
1493
01:12:49,966 --> 01:12:51,481
climb mountains, be in nature.
1494
01:12:51,501 --> 01:12:54,150
Even if there was an inhabitable planet,
1495
01:12:54,170 --> 01:12:57,638
we're just gonna ruin it
like we're ruining this one.
1496
01:13:01,110 --> 01:13:02,692
This is an emergency.
1497
01:13:02,712 --> 01:13:05,445
Our house is on fire.
1498
01:13:08,651 --> 01:13:13,388
We deserve a safe future
and we demand a safe future.
1499
01:13:14,657 --> 01:13:17,106
Is that really too much to ask?
1500
01:13:17,126 --> 01:13:18,192
No!
1501
01:13:33,809 --> 01:13:35,925
Hello, nice to meet you.
1502
01:13:35,945 --> 01:13:37,593
Nice to meet you.
1503
01:13:37,613 --> 01:13:38,794
It's a pleasure to have you here.
1504
01:13:38,814 --> 01:13:39,814
Thank you so much.
1505
01:13:56,432 --> 01:13:58,348
But this was the place that he was under...
1506
01:13:58,368 --> 01:14:00,082
He was under house arrest for
1507
01:14:00,102 --> 01:14:02,370
starting a revolution that
people didn't want started.
1508
01:14:03,973 --> 01:14:05,355
They were afraid of it.
1509
01:14:05,375 --> 01:14:06,956
They were afraid of what he saw.
1510
01:14:06,976 --> 01:14:08,558
They were afraid of the fact that he
1511
01:14:08,578 --> 01:14:12,547
used observation to upturn ancient wisdoms.
1512
01:14:19,321 --> 01:14:21,504
It isn't just that we're trying
1513
01:14:21,524 --> 01:14:23,373
to do amazing things with telescopes,
1514
01:14:23,393 --> 01:14:25,107
look for other planets,
1515
01:14:25,127 --> 01:14:28,177
I mean, our generation,
my children are facing
1516
01:14:28,197 --> 01:14:31,098
real challenges on this planet.
1517
01:14:32,602 --> 01:14:35,251
How do we tackle these global problems
1518
01:14:35,271 --> 01:14:38,840
which actually will affect
our own survival as a species?
1519
01:14:40,410 --> 01:14:43,259
It's going to take a collective endeavor
1520
01:14:43,279 --> 01:14:44,594
with the type of groups we're
1521
01:14:44,614 --> 01:14:46,262
putting together around the James Webb.
1522
01:14:46,282 --> 01:14:47,663
These are collaborative groups.
1523
01:14:47,683 --> 01:14:49,465
These are people who want to work together.
1524
01:14:49,485 --> 01:14:51,867
It gives me hope that we can change
1525
01:14:51,887 --> 01:14:53,736
the way we operate in the world.
1526
01:14:53,756 --> 01:14:56,872
Change the way we do
science, using data to say,
1527
01:14:56,892 --> 01:14:59,475
"Look what is happening," and not just
1528
01:14:59,495 --> 01:15:01,210
going back and saying,
"I don't want to hear,"
1529
01:15:01,230 --> 01:15:02,930
or "I don't want to see."
1530
01:15:04,500 --> 01:15:06,015
Well, you know, they said to Galileo,
1531
01:15:06,035 --> 01:15:08,284
"I don't want to hear,
I don't want to see."
1532
01:15:08,304 --> 01:15:10,219
And yes, they sequestered him here
1533
01:15:10,239 --> 01:15:12,154
for the last 10 years of his life,
1534
01:15:12,174 --> 01:15:14,075
but here we are 400 years later
1535
01:15:15,311 --> 01:15:17,159
and we all know about Galileo
1536
01:15:17,179 --> 01:15:19,361
and we have to look up in
our history books to remember
1537
01:15:19,381 --> 01:15:22,564
who the Pope was that
actually put him away.
1538
01:15:22,584 --> 01:15:24,318
We remember Galileo.
1539
01:15:26,722 --> 01:15:28,523
I mean, Carl Sagan said it best.
1540
01:15:30,126 --> 01:15:31,373
It's going to take us centuries to get
1541
01:15:31,393 --> 01:15:33,528
to the stars as a species.
1542
01:15:35,265 --> 01:15:38,514
And it's going to have to be
a better version of ourselves
1543
01:15:38,534 --> 01:15:41,269
to actually get that far on this planet.
1544
01:15:48,478 --> 01:15:50,126
Good morning, and welcome to
1545
01:15:50,146 --> 01:15:52,194
the second day of the hearing entitled
1546
01:15:52,214 --> 01:15:54,797
"James Webb Space Telescope Program
1547
01:15:54,817 --> 01:15:56,799
Breach and its Implications."
1548
01:15:56,819 --> 01:15:59,269
We've had a lot of discussion about cost
1549
01:15:59,289 --> 01:16:03,005
and the cost matters, but
I will tell you taxpayers
1550
01:16:03,025 --> 01:16:04,474
and all of us are way more concerned about
1551
01:16:04,494 --> 01:16:06,342
value than cost at the end of the day.
1552
01:16:06,362 --> 01:16:08,478
James Webb should continue based on its
1553
01:16:08,498 --> 01:16:10,412
extraordinary scientific potential
1554
01:16:10,432 --> 01:16:12,282
and critical role in maintaining
1555
01:16:12,302 --> 01:16:15,351
US leadership in astronomy
and astrophysics.
1556
01:16:15,371 --> 01:16:18,154
Let's finish this incredibly
important project.
1557
01:16:18,174 --> 01:16:21,223
Inspiring and challenging
projects such as the
1558
01:16:21,243 --> 01:16:26,028
James Webb Space Telescope are
an investment in our future.
1559
01:16:26,048 --> 01:16:29,299
We must not lose sight of the importance
1560
01:16:29,319 --> 01:16:32,568
of bringing the James Webb Space Telescope
1561
01:16:32,588 --> 01:16:34,589
to a successful outcome.
1562
01:16:48,204 --> 01:16:49,451
All right, see you.
1563
01:16:49,471 --> 01:16:51,053
See you, have a good day.
1564
01:16:51,073 --> 01:16:52,073
I will.
1565
01:16:54,276 --> 01:16:55,658
So this is like
1566
01:16:55,678 --> 01:16:57,278
the biggest day of your career in a way.
1567
01:16:58,147 --> 01:16:59,180
It's pretty big.
1568
01:17:00,750 --> 01:17:02,732
Been working seven years towards this day.
1569
01:17:02,752 --> 01:17:06,468
So yeah, yeah, this is going to be now
1570
01:17:06,488 --> 01:17:09,405
the James Webb Observatory.
1571
01:17:09,425 --> 01:17:11,874
Before, you know, it was like
this piece or that piece,
1572
01:17:11,894 --> 01:17:15,062
where now it's actually
all together one piece.
1573
01:17:18,034 --> 01:17:20,482
You can see the way it's going
to look when it's operating.
1574
01:17:20,502 --> 01:17:22,552
So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
1575
01:17:22,572 --> 01:17:24,486
Everyone's really excited.
1576
01:17:24,506 --> 01:17:27,575
The entire team's kind
of vibrating a little.
1577
01:17:32,982 --> 01:17:34,697
Ready.
1578
01:17:34,717 --> 01:17:36,298
I'm not allowed to follow you.
1579
01:17:36,318 --> 01:17:37,366
So this is goodbye, I guess.
1580
01:17:37,386 --> 01:17:38,300
Good luck.
1581
01:17:38,320 --> 01:17:39,235
See you in a bit.
1582
01:17:39,255 --> 01:17:40,255
Ah, come on.
1583
01:17:43,192 --> 01:17:44,392
Dennis, I can't get in.
1584
01:17:51,333 --> 01:17:52,833
Thank you, see y'all.
1585
01:18:00,542 --> 01:18:02,057
You know, Amy has worked with me
1586
01:18:02,077 --> 01:18:03,593
since she joined the company
1587
01:18:03,613 --> 01:18:06,062
and I wanted her taking over alignments
1588
01:18:06,082 --> 01:18:09,065
because it requires attention
to detail and people skills
1589
01:18:09,085 --> 01:18:13,002
and innate genius that's
necessary to do it.
1590
01:18:13,022 --> 01:18:14,870
And today is the culmination as we
1591
01:18:14,890 --> 01:18:16,672
see the system go together but
1592
01:18:16,692 --> 01:18:18,408
it's going to go together precisely
1593
01:18:18,428 --> 01:18:21,611
and it's got to end up
where it's supposed to be.
1594
01:18:21,631 --> 01:18:23,879
And that's the job to which she
1595
01:18:23,899 --> 01:18:26,067
has been devoted for
these last seven years.
1596
01:18:28,438 --> 01:18:32,622
Every piece of hardware, 500
odd pieces of ground support,
1597
01:18:32,642 --> 01:18:34,875
have a story, have a
team that's been devoted.
1598
01:18:36,578 --> 01:18:39,280
When I mean an act of
collective genius, I mean it.
1599
01:18:45,655 --> 01:18:47,703
Many people have spent a
big chunk of their careers
1600
01:18:47,723 --> 01:18:50,239
developing this system,
done a tremendous job,
1601
01:18:50,259 --> 01:18:53,442
and they're ready to
go and I'm ready to go.
1602
01:18:53,462 --> 01:18:56,312
It's just in our DNA to explore.
1603
01:18:56,332 --> 01:18:58,714
So as far as we send satellites out,
1604
01:18:58,734 --> 01:19:01,450
I think we should be
willing to send humans out
1605
01:19:01,470 --> 01:19:03,070
but we have to learn how to do it.
1606
01:19:04,674 --> 01:19:07,323
It takes putting our
minds and heads together
1607
01:19:07,343 --> 01:19:09,910
around a common goal, and
I think we can do anything.
1608
01:19:11,747 --> 01:19:13,627
And human space flight
is always pretty special.
1609
01:19:16,018 --> 01:19:18,534
And Webb is certainly in the same category
1610
01:19:18,554 --> 01:19:21,537
as human space flight in my mind.
1611
01:19:21,557 --> 01:19:23,405
So this is my capstone.
1612
01:19:23,425 --> 01:19:24,592
The Webb is my capstone.
1613
01:19:30,232 --> 01:19:31,747
You know, I'm moving.
1614
01:19:31,767 --> 01:19:34,083
So cleaning out my garage I found this
1615
01:19:34,103 --> 01:19:36,686
old binder paper that's from high school
1616
01:19:36,706 --> 01:19:39,607
and the theme was the American frontier.
1617
01:19:41,110 --> 01:19:42,892
You have to remember this was the 80s
1618
01:19:42,912 --> 01:19:45,495
so the backdrop of this was
the space shuttle program.
1619
01:19:45,515 --> 01:19:48,949
And so I titled this
speech, "Would You Go?"
1620
01:19:50,252 --> 01:19:53,569
"The year is 2010.
1621
01:19:53,589 --> 01:19:57,573
America has just begun the
settlement of a new state.
1622
01:19:57,593 --> 01:19:59,509
But where is this state?
1623
01:19:59,529 --> 01:20:04,514
On a distant planet where only
a few have ventured before."
1624
01:20:04,534 --> 01:20:05,647
And it's called "Would you Go?"
1625
01:20:05,667 --> 01:20:07,383
It's called "Would You Go?"
1626
01:20:07,403 --> 01:20:08,384
With a question mark and everything.
1627
01:20:08,404 --> 01:20:09,404
Yes.
1628
01:20:10,606 --> 01:20:11,787
So would you?
1629
01:20:11,807 --> 01:20:13,455
Well, here's the thing.
1630
01:20:13,475 --> 01:20:16,110
My current adult thinking is that
1631
01:20:17,413 --> 01:20:20,147
as important as exploration is,
1632
01:20:22,351 --> 01:20:25,535
love is probably even more so.
1633
01:20:25,555 --> 01:20:27,603
What about you, Natasha, would you go?
1634
01:20:27,623 --> 01:20:29,138
I don't know.
1635
01:20:29,158 --> 01:20:30,740
I think I'd have to take my posse,
1636
01:20:30,760 --> 01:20:32,207
all the people that I love with me.
1637
01:20:32,227 --> 01:20:33,409
I wouldn't be able, it wouldn't be
1638
01:20:33,429 --> 01:20:34,476
a thing that I would do alone.
1639
01:20:34,496 --> 01:20:35,811
I would have to take a,
1640
01:20:35,831 --> 01:20:38,147
I would have to take my crew, you know?
1641
01:20:38,167 --> 01:20:41,417
What about you, Ellie, would you go?
1642
01:20:41,437 --> 01:20:42,551
You know, it's a good question.
1643
01:20:42,571 --> 01:20:44,553
I waffle on it all the time.
1644
01:20:44,573 --> 01:20:47,156
Going to Mars, you know?
1645
01:20:47,176 --> 01:20:48,176
It's tempting.
1646
01:20:49,645 --> 01:20:51,360
But still, I'd miss nature
1647
01:20:51,380 --> 01:20:52,980
in the way we have it here on Earth.
1648
01:21:02,792 --> 01:21:04,373
For whatever reason there's this thing.
1649
01:21:04,393 --> 01:21:05,574
I don't know if this is true or not,
1650
01:21:05,594 --> 01:21:06,976
but you know if you meet someone
1651
01:21:06,996 --> 01:21:08,578
within two years of when your husband died,
1652
01:21:08,598 --> 01:21:10,446
like two years is some
kind of magic number,
1653
01:21:10,466 --> 01:21:11,466
I don't know why.
1654
01:21:12,868 --> 01:21:14,383
And I was thinking, "My
two years is basically up.
1655
01:21:14,403 --> 01:21:15,184
So I guess it didn't work for me."
1656
01:21:15,204 --> 01:21:16,652
Right?
1657
01:21:16,672 --> 01:21:18,387
So just before my two year anniversary,
1658
01:21:18,407 --> 01:21:20,322
I was going to Canada.
1659
01:21:20,342 --> 01:21:22,724
I'd been invited to give a keynote talk.
1660
01:21:22,744 --> 01:21:24,994
So I go to the opening reception,
1661
01:21:25,014 --> 01:21:26,796
I see this guy across
the room and I'm like,
1662
01:21:26,816 --> 01:21:28,998
"Wow, who's that guy?
1663
01:21:29,018 --> 01:21:30,866
I have to meet him."
1664
01:21:30,886 --> 01:21:33,602
And after my talk, I go to the
cafeteria a little bit late
1665
01:21:33,622 --> 01:21:35,404
and there he is in the cafeteria
1666
01:21:35,424 --> 01:21:36,872
and he's with only one other person.
1667
01:21:36,892 --> 01:21:38,540
And he's like, "Oh, do
you want to have lunch?"
1668
01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:40,009
I'm like, "Sure."
1669
01:21:40,029 --> 01:21:41,877
So we go and sit down for lunch
and I'm thinking to myself,
1670
01:21:41,897 --> 01:21:45,815
"Wow, I can't believe I finally
get to talk to this guy."
1671
01:21:45,835 --> 01:21:48,068
I left to go home and then we skyped.
1672
01:21:49,905 --> 01:21:51,687
In the very beginning it was like,
1673
01:21:51,707 --> 01:21:53,689
"I don't know what to do with
this cause it's far away."
1674
01:21:53,709 --> 01:21:56,625
And then I'm thinking, "You
know, this is good for me.
1675
01:21:56,645 --> 01:21:57,559
I can crush on a guy.
1676
01:21:57,579 --> 01:21:59,294
I can just shut the computer
1677
01:21:59,314 --> 01:22:00,562
if I don't feel like talking to him,
1678
01:22:00,582 --> 01:22:01,582
if it gets too personal."
1679
01:22:03,052 --> 01:22:05,501
In January, he was going
to London for work.
1680
01:22:05,521 --> 01:22:07,369
And he's like, "Sarah, I'm
going a few days early.
1681
01:22:07,389 --> 01:22:10,572
I hope you'll join me,
I want to invite you."
1682
01:22:10,592 --> 01:22:12,107
And I wasn't sure what to do, but okay.
1683
01:22:12,127 --> 01:22:13,308
Of course I'm going to go, right?
1684
01:22:13,328 --> 01:22:15,110
So I go to London and I'm like,
1685
01:22:15,130 --> 01:22:16,578
"Wow, I don't know, are
we boyfriend, girlfriend?"
1686
01:22:16,598 --> 01:22:17,847
I'm not really sure.
1687
01:22:17,867 --> 01:22:19,849
I'm just like, "Oh my God, like,
1688
01:22:19,869 --> 01:22:21,317
when am I going to get my first kiss?"
1689
01:22:21,337 --> 01:22:22,784
You know, here I'm like a grownup here.
1690
01:22:22,804 --> 01:22:24,505
This is ridiculous, right?
1691
01:22:26,208 --> 01:22:27,723
After dinner one night
he takes me on a walk.
1692
01:22:27,743 --> 01:22:29,124
It's like raining cause you know
1693
01:22:29,144 --> 01:22:30,860
in London it's always miserable.
1694
01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:31,793
And there we are in front
of Buckingham Palace
1695
01:22:31,813 --> 01:22:33,529
and I got my first kiss.
1696
01:22:33,549 --> 01:22:35,397
And after that, it really was,
1697
01:22:35,417 --> 01:22:37,484
it felt like the romance of the millennium.
1698
01:22:48,764 --> 01:22:50,546
Time is a very funny thing.
1699
01:22:50,566 --> 01:22:54,950
And particularly the
disconnect between human time,
1700
01:22:54,970 --> 01:22:59,288
geological time and cosmic time, right?
1701
01:22:59,308 --> 01:23:03,310
We don't interface very well
with those longer timescales.
1702
01:23:05,247 --> 01:23:10,117
And thinking about the far
future is really difficult.
1703
01:23:14,256 --> 01:23:17,372
But if we're going to have a long future,
1704
01:23:17,392 --> 01:23:19,909
we've got to outgrow all the kind of
1705
01:23:19,929 --> 01:23:22,378
aggressive tendencies and think about
1706
01:23:22,398 --> 01:23:25,447
what kind of place that would be,
1707
01:23:25,467 --> 01:23:27,568
where people actually valued
1708
01:23:29,405 --> 01:23:33,107
all life and took care of
themselves, one another.
1709
01:23:44,086 --> 01:23:45,801
The hardest place is when you have to
1710
01:23:45,821 --> 01:23:48,403
just watch it all come to fruition.
1711
01:23:48,423 --> 01:23:49,939
It's like when you're kid finally gets
1712
01:23:49,959 --> 01:23:51,741
on the field and is swinging the bat.
1713
01:23:51,761 --> 01:23:54,228
I mean, you've got to sit
there and be a good parent.
1714
01:23:56,698 --> 01:23:58,665
I'm sure Amy will be a
good parent out there.
1715
01:24:02,171 --> 01:24:04,753
I wonder if Amy had them go check something
1716
01:24:04,773 --> 01:24:06,355
because she's staring up at something.
1717
01:24:06,375 --> 01:24:07,889
Yeah.
1718
01:24:07,909 --> 01:24:09,243
That one.
1719
01:24:23,392 --> 01:24:25,107
Now let's just start
1720
01:24:25,127 --> 01:24:26,775
getting everything in
position and we'll see...
1721
01:24:26,795 --> 01:24:28,195
Then we should come down.
1722
01:24:29,731 --> 01:24:31,698
Going down.
1723
01:25:37,799 --> 01:25:40,100
It's just magic, it's magic.
1724
01:25:46,007 --> 01:25:48,657
It'd be awfully, awfully interesting
1725
01:25:48,677 --> 01:25:51,193
to look at another place and say,
1726
01:25:51,213 --> 01:25:53,881
"Oh, there's signatures of life there."
1727
01:25:55,417 --> 01:25:57,132
It may not be conclusive evidence,
1728
01:25:57,152 --> 01:25:59,953
but it sure would get
people very, very excited.
1729
01:26:01,757 --> 01:26:03,272
Do you think there's life out there?
1730
01:26:03,292 --> 01:26:05,674
Yeah, I think there's life out there.
1731
01:26:05,694 --> 01:26:07,476
Can we find them?
1732
01:26:07,496 --> 01:26:08,077
I think we will.
1733
01:26:08,097 --> 01:26:09,010
In my lifetime?
1734
01:26:09,030 --> 01:26:10,030
God, I hope so.
1735
01:26:11,900 --> 01:26:14,468
Because, I want to know. You know?
1736
01:26:36,725 --> 01:26:37,973
Charles.
1737
01:26:37,993 --> 01:26:38,974
Oh, hi Sara.
1738
01:26:38,994 --> 01:26:40,576
How'd it go?
1739
01:26:40,596 --> 01:26:42,444
Well, I've set up the
telescope and I'm just
1740
01:26:42,464 --> 01:26:44,045
waiting for it to get dark
enough to do an alignment and...
1741
01:26:44,065 --> 01:26:45,046
Looks great.
1742
01:26:45,066 --> 01:26:46,648
Yeah.
1743
01:26:46,668 --> 01:26:48,317
What's up tonight?
1744
01:26:48,337 --> 01:26:50,051
Well, as soon as it gets a bit darker,
1745
01:26:50,071 --> 01:26:51,520
maybe we'll look at some galaxies.
1746
01:26:51,540 --> 01:26:53,322
I don't think Jupiter
and any of the planets
1747
01:26:53,342 --> 01:26:54,523
are going to be up till later tonight.
1748
01:26:54,543 --> 01:26:56,658
Okay.
1749
01:26:56,678 --> 01:26:57,526
You see any stars yet?
1750
01:26:57,546 --> 01:26:59,461
Not yet, not yet.
1751
01:26:59,481 --> 01:27:01,997
But patiently waiting for at
least Polaris to poke out.
1752
01:27:02,017 --> 01:27:03,999
Right, right.
1753
01:27:04,019 --> 01:27:06,753
But maybe we can discover some exoplanets.
1754
01:27:09,825 --> 01:27:11,592
There's fish jumping out there.
1755
01:27:18,099 --> 01:27:19,748
There it is.
1756
01:27:19,768 --> 01:27:21,150
Wow, that's really pretty.
1757
01:27:21,170 --> 01:27:22,217
The Whirlpool Galaxy M51,
1758
01:27:22,237 --> 01:27:23,952
one of my summer favorites.
1759
01:27:23,972 --> 01:27:25,354
It's amazing that
1760
01:27:25,374 --> 01:27:26,555
we can see it with this telescope.
1761
01:27:26,575 --> 01:27:28,157
Yeah.
1762
01:27:28,177 --> 01:27:30,359
And just how vast, like
that's so huge, that scale.
1763
01:27:30,379 --> 01:27:32,227
Yeah, we are tiny, aren't we?
1764
01:27:32,247 --> 01:27:34,095
Really tiny.
1765
01:27:34,115 --> 01:27:35,764
Maybe there's a planet around
a star there looking back...
1766
01:27:35,784 --> 01:27:37,366
At our spiral galaxy...
1767
01:27:37,386 --> 01:27:39,835
Maybe there are two people like us.
1768
01:27:39,855 --> 01:27:40,855
Yeah, maybe.
1769
01:27:41,990 --> 01:27:43,772
It's wonderful to be able to
1770
01:27:43,792 --> 01:27:44,906
wonder about the universe together.
1771
01:27:44,926 --> 01:27:45,926
It really is.
1772
01:27:58,940 --> 01:28:01,990
¶ Fly me to the moon
1773
01:28:02,010 --> 01:28:06,847
¶ And let me play among the stars ¶
1774
01:28:08,617 --> 01:28:12,486
¶ Let me see what spring is
like on Jupiter and Mars ¶
1775
01:28:16,157 --> 01:28:21,261
¶ In other words, hold my hand
1776
01:28:25,500 --> 01:28:30,437
¶ In other words, darling, kiss me ¶
1777
01:28:34,109 --> 01:28:39,112
¶ Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forevermore ¶
1778
01:28:43,384 --> 01:28:48,255
¶ You are all I long for,
all I worship and adore ¶
1779
01:28:51,126 --> 01:28:55,962
¶ In other words, please be true ¶
1780
01:28:59,735 --> 01:29:03,337
¶ In other words, I love you
1781
01:29:41,576 --> 01:29:46,580
¶ Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forevermore ¶
1782
01:29:50,185 --> 01:29:55,188
¶ You are all I long for,
all I worship and adore ¶
1783
01:29:57,726 --> 01:30:02,562
¶ In other words, please be true ¶
1784
01:30:05,334 --> 01:30:10,337
¶ And in other words, I love you ¶
1785
01:30:13,342 --> 01:30:17,344
¶ And in other words, I love you ¶
137430
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