All language subtitles for The.Hunt.for.Planet.B.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x265-English

(eerie music)

- [Johnny Carson] Would you
welcome, please, Dr. Carl Sagan.

Well what's new in space, Carl?

- [Carl Sagan] Think
of a civilization

on a different
planet evolved under

quite different
circumstances than here.

What is their art
like, their music?

Think of how we'd be able to
view ourselves in a new way.

There's another aspect
to it, too, and that is

we are at a very dangerous
moment in human history.

We're in the process
of inadvertently
altering our climate

and exhaustion of fossil
fuels, all kinds of problems

which come with technology.

- [Johnny Carson] Is it true
that all television radio shows

that are sent out travel
forever through the void?

- [Carl Sagan] Yep, they do,
signals that are sent out,

including this program.

(overlapping voices)

- [Meteorologist] Here's a
look at our seven-day forecast

for the beaches, the
valleys, and the metro area.

Take a look at that, 70s, 80s,
and valleys next weekend...

- [Martha] I would come to
your home every single week,

to teach you how to cook.

- [Television Host]
Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome our
next bachelor, Peter!

(car horns honking)

- [Reporter] Argue that a
lack of genetic diversity,

naturally occurring
pests and the rigors of

being trucked from crop to crop

could all be to blame
for the death of bees.

(music, helicopter whirring)

- [Reporter 2] The Brazilian
government decided that

saving a rainforest
should take a back seat

to their economic development.

- [Reporter 3] Marches
occurred one week

after the earth day
marches for science,

which has demanded respect for

fact-based, scientific research.

- [Chairman Smith] The
Committee on Science,

Space and Technology
will come to order.

Welcome to today's
hearing titled

"The Search for Biosignatures

in our Solar System and beyond."

(gavel)

- Do you think there's
life out there?

(laughing)

And are they studying us and

what do they think
about New York City?

(laughing)

- Well, let me just say that
in our own Milky Way Galaxy

there are a hundred billion
stars and we now believe

in our universe
we have more than

a hundred billion galaxies.

So if you just do the math, the
chance that there's a planet

like earth out there with
life on it is very high.

- I just want you to speculate.

Do you think, in what
timeframe might we

expect to find some
evidence of, say,

microbial life elsewhere
in the universe?

- I always like
to start by saying

scientists never
like to speculate.

(laughing)

We always like facts.

- [Chairman Smith]
But they always do.

But we always do, correct.

So we now finally know that
exoplanets exist and are common

but on the other side
lies the possibility

to find the true earths
with signs of life.

The point I want to make
is this is the first time

in human history we have
the technological reach

to cross the great threshold

with the James Webb
Space Telescope.

- Most optimistic, then,
next 5 to 10 years?

- Yes, the most optimistic
is within a decade.

- [Chairman Smith] Okay.

(epic music)

- [Technician] Slow
down, slow down.

- [Technician 2]
Slow down, slow.

- [Technician] Got it.

Keep pushing.

- [Technician 2] Good
speed, guys, good speed.

Someone telling
us where to stop?

- [Matt Mountain] This is
the largest space telescope

humanity has ever conceived of.

We're never done anything this
audacious in space before.

We have a thousand
people working on this
project right now.

If it works, it's going
to see deeper into space

than any other
telescope in history.

- This is the largest mission,

non-human space flight
that NASA has ever done.

- It looks at areas that
the Hubble could never see.

- The James Webb Space
Telescope certainly is

the most complex telescope
anyone's ever built.

- This is a chance
to measure myself

against one of the
hardest problems

man has set himself
the goal to do.

- This is the huge eye in the
sky and it's going to capture

the very first light
of the universe.

- [Matt Mountain]
We're going to test it.

We're going to pack it up
in a rocket, shoot it out

and we don't know what
we're going to find.

But the slightest thing
that could go wrong

could actually mean
this mission could fail.

(birds chirping)

- [Nathaniel] So
you've loved astronomy

since you were a kid, right?

- Yeah, I got into
it as a child.

My dad won a cottage
in a crap game.

The attraction of
going down there

and having these light
pollution-free skies

and seeing the summer Milky Way,

you know, the odd satellite.

And I was old enough
to be around when

Neil Armstrong set
foot on the moon.

- [Nathaniel] That made
a big impression on you?

- Yeah, that whole space race

and the fact that we
stepped on another planet.

That we left this
earth and all that.

Yeah, it left a huge
impression on me.

- [Nathaniel] How do you think
the seeing will be tonight?

- It's supposed
to clear up later.

I don't know if the transparency
is going to get any better.

Hopefully we can see something.

You know, I think everyone
is intrigued by astronomy

because it's about
the big questions.

Where did we come from?

How did the universe begin?

Are we alone?

An amazing thing right now
is that we're on the verge

of really being able to
answer these questions.

It's an exciting time.

- [Johnny Carson] It's
still mind boggling.

You're involved now
with looking for

extraterrestrial
intelligence, right?

How do you go about looking?

- [Sara Seager] Why do
children learn how to walk?

I don't know, I
mean, they just do.

They're driven somehow by

a force inside of them
that they can't identify.

I don't know why I'm doing this.

I just feel compelled
to go forward.

When I was a small child,

I went with my dad
on a camping trip.

It was his first and
last camping trip.

But fortunately, you
know, he made it happen.

And I remember waking up
in the middle of the night

and stepping outside
the tent and I looked up

and it was my first ever
view of a truly dark sky.

And I saw so many stars.

I went, "Wow."

I had never imagined
that was possible.

I couldn't even count them.

And they were so bright.

And a little later my father
took me to a star party

and I remember looking at
the moon through a telescope

and I went, "Wow."

I couldn't believe that
the moon that I had seen

so many times actually
had craters on it.

I saw an unbelievable
amount of detail.

I just didn't know it existed.

And at some point I realized,

I don't know how I had the
foresight at a young age,

but I thought, "You know I'm
not going to study physics,

I'm not going to be a doctor
like my father wanted me to be.

I'm going to apply for
graduate school in astronomy."

Great.
- It's called Fernando.

- Wow, I didn't even realize
it was this portable.

- We're going to move
it into the dark room.

- [Sara] I started out
working on exoplanets.

- [Nathaniel] You mean not
Jupiter, Venus, Mars, et cetera?

- Yes, planets orbiting a
star other than our sun.

What's so cool is you can
build your own space satellite.

At the time, people
really didn't

think that was a good idea.

People would come
up to me and say,

"You can talk to my advisor.

He thinks exoplanets
are nothing.

You shouldn't be doing
this, he'll tell you."

Professors would say,

"Look, I see people
are finding planets.

I kind of believe
them but we'll never

be able to study
their atmospheres."

And when I was on the job
market as a junior faculty

there was one single
transiting planet known.

HD-209458B.

And they'd say, "Look, Sarah,
I get there's this one object.

I think it's a one object,
one method, success.

I don't know if this field's
going to go anywhere."

- Hey!

(epic music)

- [Lee Feinberg] The Webb
Telescope is a hundred times

more powerful than Hubble.

The telescopes keep
getting bigger because

the bigger the telescope
the better the resolution.

You know, we
wouldn't have built a

telescope this big
unless we needed to.

And you need to build
a telescope this big

if you want to look
at the very dimmest,

most earliest galaxies
in the universe.

- The James Webb Space Telescope

is not just a machine
built by engineers

and scientists to look
out to the universe.

it's taking humanity
on a journey.

We're going to enter
a completely new

part of observational space
where we've never trod before.

And every time we've
done this as a species

we've discovered new things.

- We have just received
the 18 hexagons that

make up the big
mirror that collects

the starlight and
focuses it on the camera.

- [Lee Feinberg] Gold has
very unique properties

in terms of reflecting
infrared light.

And this is an
infrared telescope.

So that's why we choose gold.

- I think people want us
to build this telescope

because they want to
know how we got here.

I want to know how we got here.

- You know, we started
the James Webb Telescope

to look at the cosmos
and the early universe

but we've discovered that
it's so much more powerful.

that it can do new things.

And we're seeing teams
of people led by women

taking that scientific
direction somewhere else.

Taking it to try and understand,

could there possibly
be life out there.

- [Elinor Gates] Do you
have any estimate for

how many nights you spent
up at the Crocker Dome?

- [Natalie Batalha] Oh my
gosh, between 2000 and 2003

we spent so many nights up here.

And it's quite remote, right?

- [Ellie] That's the
thing, there's no bathroom.

- Right
- There's no internet.

- [Natalie] There were so many
creatures along this path.

When I started in the late 1990s

we were trying to
find planets using

this small telescope
up at Lick Observatory.

We were using this
new technique.

It had never been done before.

And people were very skeptical.

In fact, the whole thing was
built on a shoestring budget.

But it was so compelling
to work on a project

that had the
possibility of detecting

an Earth-like planet
in the future.

I do remember this padlock.

- [Ellie] Yeah.

- Is it possible to get in?

- No, unfortunately I don't
have the key right now.

- Oh.
- I wasn't prepared.

- All of the instruments
have been taken out, right?

- Yeah, there's nothing in there

It's just some empty shelves.

This is not the astronomer's
ideal weather conditions.

- [Nathaniel] Isn't
this a way to understand

why we had to go to space?

- You know, to find planets,
you need to stare unblinkingly.

So besides the fact that the
sun gets in our way sometimes,

we have day, the
weather does too.

So no observations are
going to be done tonight.

- [Nathaniel] You
spent a lot of years

up here at Lick
looking for exoplanets.

Did you find any?

- We found hundreds of
periodic dimmings of light,

but none of them turned
out to be bonafide planets.

The analogy I'd like to use
is to imagine a skyscraper

80 stories high
in New York City,

and you've got all of these
windows and it's nighttime.

All the windows are illuminated.

And one person
goes to one window

and lowers the blinds
by about a centimeter.

That's the change in brightness
we had to be able to detect.

- [Sara] In the beginning,
it was a lonely field.

Very few planets were known.

Months would go by and not a
new planet would be discovered.

Nevertheless, I knew the field
would explode and I'd say,

"Look, I know
there's going to be

so many planets transiting we're

not gonna be able
to count them all.

And they'd be, "No,
I don't believe it."

And so they didn't believe
it, they didn't hire me.

And then came Kepler.

- [Launch Announcer]
Three, two, one, zero.

And liftoff of the Delta
2 Rocket with Kepler

on a search for
planets like our own.

- [Sara] The Kepler
Space Telescope

monitored one small
section of the sky

and it found
thousands of planets.

Another Earth is
undoubtedly out there.

In our own Milky
Way Galaxy we have

hundreds of billions of stars.

Our own universe has hundreds
of billions of galaxies.

To me personally, it
is definitely there.

(phone ringing)

- [Natalia G.] Oh there you are.

There you are.

- Good morning everyone,
sorry I'm late.

- [Natalia G.] Hey, Natalie.

We have a good group
in the room today.

- All right.

Well, the last few
meetings we've had

one planet candidate
in each batch.

- [Leader] Yeah.

- [Sara] We rely on
a few core experts.

Natalie's one of them.

- Natalie was one of the
leaders of the Kepler mission.

- [Sara] Kepler
was so pioneering.

It opened our eyes
for the first time.

And TESS is now
just finding objects

around closer stars and
smaller stars as well.

- Okay.

- [Leader] Okay.

- [Nathaniel] How are you
detecting these exoplanets?

- Well, nowadays, the
best way to find planets

is by the transit technique.

If this represents
our star and this blue

represents a planet,
if you're lucky,

the planet will
orbit such that it

passes in front of the star
as seen from the telescope.

Then the starlight
drops by a tiny amount.

Thousands of planets have
been detected this way.

They range from smaller than
Earth size to Jupiter size.

- So Aylin showed me
this one yesterday.

- [Sara] I like this one.

Look how long the
transit duration is, too.

- This one also
has century offset.

- [Sara] We're hoping
to find and identify

the pool of transiting planets

in the habitable
zones of small stars.

Not too hot, not too cold,
but just right for life.

The Goldilocks zone.

- [Natalia G.]
Onto the next one.

- [Natalie] Next
one looks great.

One system that had two
viable planet candidates

that were very exciting,
so it was super--

- [Nathaniel] So you want
to study these candidates

with the James Webb
Space Telescope?

- [Sara] Yeah.

Actually the question
often comes up.

How much time are we going
to get for exoplanets?

You know, if we find a rocky
planet with a thin atmosphere

in the habitable zone of an
M star, do you have any idea

how much telescope time
we're going to need

to look at that
planet's atmosphere?

- [Leader] We have five
more to go, or six.

- [Natalie G.]
Yeah, let's kill it.

- [Clara] Given that
our own atmosphere

contains thousands of gases,
we expect alien atmospheres

to also contain
thousands of gases.

And my job is to figure out
how each one of those gases

interacts with light. And
some molecules, like oxygen,

we send out into space, life
does, but other things do too.

Some molecules, like
phosphine, only life

sends out into the atmosphere.

And so this is one of the
reasons I'm so fond of it

because although it's rare,
and actually quite poisonous,

only life makes it on Earth.

And so it's an
unequivocal sign of life.

- [Sara] My generation,
we're betting on

the fact that nature delivers.

That life can originate and
evolve anywhere given the chance

and we're planning
on finding it.

There's no question.

(epic music)

- [Lee] At some point
you build a telescope

that's too big to
fit in a rocket

and James Webb would
not fit in a rocket.

So we had to make
the primary mirror

into individual segments.

It's been done on the
ground once or twice but

doing it in space as a whole
other set of challenges.

- Is it going to hold, is it
going to keep it strength?

Is it going to keep its
alignment, will it deploy?

- This is a worldwide telescope.

It's the collective
investment from the US

and the European Space Agency
and the Canadian Space Agency,

that all these countries
are willing to make,

to reach the edge
of the universe.

- [Jon] Separating
from the upper stage.

Separating.

We're going to L2.

- The stakes are tremendous.

If you think back to Mars
Science Lab, Curiosity.

That seven minutes of
terror waiting for it

to get to the surface, we
were all holding our breath.

I didn't hold it
for seven minutes

but I held it for a long time

waiting for that signal
back from the surface.

In this case we're going
to hold out breaths

for a couple of weeks,
because that's how long

it's gonna take to get all those

deployments out after launch.

- Adding whatever
Delta V we need.

- [Matt] There are
over 300 or 400

different operations that
have to occur in space

to make this telescope
actually come to life.

A huge sunshade has to deploy,

which is the size
of a tennis court.

At this point, things
get pretty critical

because now everything
starts to cool quickly.

- Follow the red
for maximum power.

- [Matt] So now we've got to
get the telescope unfolded

before it gets too cold
and the joints freeze up.

Then we got to get the
instruments started.

And each one of these things

has to work
perfectly first time.

- [Jon] Hello?

- Hi, how are you?

- Good.

- So about the James
Webb, what's new?

What's the latest going on?

- [Jon] It's very exciting.

Lots of things.

The spacecraft structure is
moving along like gangbusters.

We're making the
flight membranes.

Pathfinder is delivered.

So basically, it's
almost all the balls

are in the air at this point.

- Sometimes we hear rumors

of something that's
not going so well.

Is there anything like that
that you're worried about,

you personally, or is
it all under control?

- There are always
little problems.

Nothing insurmountable.

- Yeah.

- The thing that
keeps me up at night

and prevents my hair
from growing back

is the problem we
haven't thought of.

That failure of imagination.

Right now we're on schedule
and making flight hardware.

- Well, it's so
great to hear that

because the entire
science community,

you know, in exoplanets,
is ramping up here.

Everybody's so excited
about the James Webb.

But I don't know if you realize

how much they're
counting on this.

- I'm aware that my
customers are very anxious

for the Webb Telescope
to get on orbit.

- Yeah, it's pressure,
but it's also gratefulness

that all you and your team
and people are working so hard

to make sure every
last thing works.

Okay.
- Okay, bye.

- [Jon] Bye bye.

- Good, huh?

That's a great conversation.

He's like basically the
brains behind the whole thing.

And you know, sometimes, I
didn't ask him this time,

but almost every
time I ask him like,

"Well, what if something
bad happens to you

and you get hit by a
bus, who's the next guy?"

(engine revving)

- [Amy] There's a couple
of race series that

got started in the
last five years or so.

My husband and I,
we go on Craigslist,

look for a really
cheap car and then

drag it home and
fix it up, race it.

Being a system engineer
for the Webb Telescope

I don't really get to touch
a lot of this hardware.

So working on cars
is pretty satisfying

because it lets you actually

put your hands on something.

I'm not strong enough.

(laughing)

- [Amy's husband] Those races
are 14 or 15 hours long.

And usually we break down
before we get to 14 or 15 hours.

And the James Webb, it's
a very different problem.

You know, I mean, James
Webb has to work first time.

It is too far away
from the Earth.

Where we're putting
the Webb Telescope

is a place called L2
and if you think of

here's the Earth, here's the
sun, L2 is on the other side,

a million miles
away from the Earth.

The full moon is
between us and L2.

That's where James Webb will be.

It's four times the
distance to the moon.

(soft piano music)

- [Astronaut] Oh my God, look
at that picture over there.

- [Astronaut 2] Hand me a
roll of color quick, will you?

- [Astronaut] Oh, man.

- [Astronaut 2] Quick.

- [Astronaut] I'm
looking for one.

- [Astronaut 2]
That went from here.

- [Astronaut] Hey,
I've got it right here.

- [Astronaut 2] I got it right.

Oh, I got a beautiful shot.

You got it?

- [Nathaniel] 50 years
ago, they say, we went

looking for the moon
and we found the Earth.

- [Maggie] Yeah, that's true.

That picture of the Earth.

That was really the beginning of

the modern environmental
movement right there.

(water running)

This is one of my
favorite little lakes.

There's an eagle circling
around in front of us.

(birds singing)

In grad school I
asked the question,

"What does the Earth look like

from very far away
when you can't

see the continents
and the oceans?

And can you actually tell that

there is life on that planet?"

So we looked at the moon not
too many days after new moon

when you can just
first start to see

that thinnest crescent
right at sunset.

You'll notice that the
dark part of the moon

is also visible because
the Earth is shining

on that part of
the lunar surface.

So if you take a telescope
and you look at that light,

it's Earth light, all
jumbled up together.

It's the land, it's the ocean,
it's the clouds, the air.

And when you spread that
light out and look at it

you can plainly see
the squiggly line, that

this is a planet that has a
definite clear oxygen line.

And there's definitely carbon
dioxide and there's methane.

Those signals were all
tangled up together

in the colors of the Earth.

And that was what we called

the spectrum of a
habitable planet.

(soft guitar music)

When I first heard
of the search for

extraterrestrial intelligence,

I thought that this was by far

the most interesting thing
to study in all of astronomy.

Finding out that there
are other civilizations

in the observable universe
would be pretty much

right there at the top of
things you could find out.

- [Nathaniel]
You're working with

Jill Tarter and
the SETI Institute?

- [Maggie] Yeah, absolutely,
Jill was the SETI pioneer.

The Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

I met her shortly after the
movie "Contact" came out

and I had never
heard of Jill before.

I didn't know there
was a connection

between that movie and her.

- [Nathaniel] Yeah,
the Jodie Foster

character is modeled on her.

- [Maggie] Yeah, Jill is
one of my longest mentors.

- When we started, SETI was
considered pretty fringy.

We didn't even
know if there were

any planets beyond
our solar system.

And we spent a lot of time
building up credibility.

Making a distinction
between ourselves

and the folks who report seeing

little green men in
spaceships and being abducted.

I mean, people would
be writing books about

the SETI pioneers
and it would be,

"What's a nice girl like you
doing in a place like this,"

sort of questions.

It was really hard.

- [Nathaniel] Do you think
there is life out there?

- You know, Nathaniel,
whatever I think

about life beyond Earth
doesn't matter a bit.

For millennia, we asked the
priests, the philosophers,

whoever we thought was wise,
what we should believe.

Well, we can now
change that verb

into the verb "to explore."

Anything else is religion and
we're not doing religion here.

We're doing science.

- [Nathaniel] What's
going on with this one?

- The birds love to nest here

and they will chew on this

and they will chew through it.

These dishes pick
up radio frequencies

and we're listening
for broadcast signals

from a distant civilization.

We're looking for signals
that are engineered.

Things that mother nature
can't do, but we can.

And presumably they can.

- [Nathaniel] But we
have looked a bit.

And so far we haven't
found anything.

- [Jill] We just haven't
looked far enough.

That volume of search space,

set it equal to the volume
of all the Earth's oceans.

And then ask
yourself how much of

the Earth's oceans
have we searched?

And the answer is one
eight ounce glass.

Now, if your question was not,

"Are there extra terrestrials,"

but "are there
fish in the ocean?"

And you did that
experiment and you

dipped your glass in and
you looked at it and,

"Well, no fish in there."

I mean that experiment
could have worked

but there aren't
any fish in there.

I don't think that
you're going to conclude

there are no fish in the ocean.

You're going to say, "I got
to fish a whole lot more."

And that's where we are.

We have a lot more
searching to do.

- [Matt] Ultimately science
is about observation.

Because it's only observation

which actually
gives you the truth.

As the ancients
looked up at the sky,

it was obvious that
everything went around us.

We were the center
of that universe.

And then Galileo lifted
his telescope to the stars.

He looks at the moon.

The moon was supposed
to be this perfect orb.

And he sees for the first
time, the moon is not perfect.

It has mountains,
it has craters.

But the most
important observation,

the one that was
truly revolutionary,

he looked at Jupiter and he
saw four pinpricks of light.

And he assumed they were stars.

And then he realized they were
moons going around Jupiter.

Everything was supposed to
be going around the Earth.

And here was proof it wasn't.

And he realizes that
the ancients were wrong,

the church was wrong, and
we're going around the sun.

(bells tolling)

Observation overthrew
ancient wisdom.

This was the very
first time anybody took

two lenses and lifted
them to the sky.

And it revealed a universe that
nobody had ever seen before.

Once he'd done this,
and he wrote it down,

you can see from his book here,
he wrote down what he saw.

Other people could build
their own telescope.

And suddenly these ideas
could actually flood out.

Galileo was locked
away for 10 years

because the church claimed
that this wasn't true.

400 years ago, it started there.

400 years later, we're
actually taking a mirror

which is 250 times,
roughly, bigger than this,

And we're going to fold it
up and launch it into space

to give it even more sensitivity

to actually see to the
edge of the known universe.

(car horns honking)

- Wow, traffic is crappy.

I think everybody can agree

we're wasting a lot of
energy and effort here.

There's a lot of people
around and we're not being

as responsible as we can
with everything that we have.

Actually, I grew up
in Taiwan, in Taipei.

It has some of the
worst pollution.

Oh, it was hard
to see the stars.

- [Nathaniel] with all
our problems on the Earth,

should we really be spending
so much money on a telescope?

- Our almost reason
for being, you know,

one of our reasons for being
is so that we can do these

good and interesting things that

move us forward as a species.

I think everybody
wants to do something,

be a part of something
greater than just

what they can do alone.

Building something like
the Webb Telescope is that.

So you know, I mean I don't know

what else would you want
to do with your life?

(upbeat string music)

- [Man] Hey Jon.

- Kevin!
- Good to see you again.

- Hi, Amy Lo.

- Amy, nice to meet you.

We've never met before.

I'm sorry, I didn't
mean to ignore you.

Jon and I have known each
other for a long time.

- [Amy] Jon's got
a big presence.

So he grabbed my
attention when I saw him.

- [Jon] We've come a long way.

- [Kevin] And your
timing's perfect.

We're just about to run a test.

This has got to work like
all the other major elements.

We have enough sensitivity
with our telescope

and our instruments to detect

a child's nightlight
located on the moon.

I know that if you
were to certainly take
your radiant heat,

which for a human is
about 80 to 100 Watts

and stick it on the
moon, we would easily

be able to detect that.

- When people think
about the telescope,

they think of the
huge mirror, right?

That's the iconic
part of the telescope

but this is what the
astronomers care about.

This is where the
data comes from.

- Our telescope is so
sensitive that it could

pick up the heat of a bumblebee

if the bumblebee were
as far away as the moon.

That is completely
astonishing to me,

even knowing that
that's our telescope

and we built it that way.

- Yes, I've heard that.

In fact, I was asked about it.

I'd have to sit down and do
the math very, very carefully.

I've learned one does not
argue with Nobel Prize winners.

I heard about this calculation.

I checked it myself.

I believe it's correct.

Yeah.

- If we had the moon here and
the Earth 250,000 miles...

What you'd do first is calculate
the area of the sphere.

Frequency times
Planck's constant.

(continues indistinctly)

- [Nathaniel] A bumblebee
gives off how much energy?

- Well, it gives off about
50 milliwatts of power.

- It does seem
reasonable that we could

see a bumblebee on the
moon with our telescope.

That's a bumblebee as
opposed to a yellow jacket

as opposed to a hornet but
we could collect the light.

Should know better than to
argue with our chief scientist.

- [Maggie] These are all
worker bees, which are female.

There will typically be
some drones in here too,

bigger males.

They aren't essential to
the survival of the hives.

- [Nathaniel] Hm, the
males are not essential?

- [Maggie] No, in the fall

all the drones are
going to get kicked out.

They're going to
be begging to stay

and the workers
are gonna be like,

"Sorry, we do not have resources
to feed you all winter."

They're going to kick them out

and they will go freeze and die.

And these girls will stay
together all winter long

beating their wings
and making enough heat.

I'm living in Wisconsin
because I really wanted to be

closer to the natural
world in my daily life

in a way that an office
couldn't do for me personally.

- [Nathaniel] It reminds me
of the shape of the mirrors

on the James Webb
Space Telescope.

- [Maggie] It does, yeah.

The hexagons are just
a really efficient way

of packing together a bunch
of cells in one place.

So that is a shape you
will find in nature.

And in mechanical engineering.

I already know
which of these hives

isn't going to make
it through the winter.

It's hard on them.

There is colony
collapse because of

chemicals that's
going on fields.

There's a farm field right there

that's obviously
not being sprayed.

The bees probably love that

and they need
diversity of resources.

It's fascinating to see how
that social structure operates.

And one does kind of wonder,

is there another
civilization of that type

out there that is more
collectively minded than we are?

If there are other
civilizations that could be

really useful
information because we're

at this point
where we don't know

if we can survive the
emergence of technology.

- [Johnny Carson] If you
think it would happen,

when would it happen?

Within a period of 10
years, 20, 50 years?

- [Carl Sagan] Depends on how
much of an effort we make.

If we make no effort
the possibility of

detecting such signals is small.

- We are one step closer to
answering the age old question,

"Are we alone in the universe?"

NASA announced the discovery
of seven Earth-sized planets

around a star about 40
light years away from Earth.

- This is the latest revelation
in a wave of discoveries

over the past 25
years of new worlds

that exist in solar
systems beyond our own.

- Astronomers call the
discovery the Trappist-1 system.

Sarah Seager of MIT is
one of the researchers.

- We've made a giant
accelerated leap forward

in the search for
habitable worlds.

- These planets
are among the best

of all the planets
we know to follow up

with the James Webb
Space Telescope.

The discovery gives us a hint
that finding a second Earth

is not just a matter
of if, but when.

- [Natalie] Wow, Trappist-1
is all over the news.

I mean, look at it.

Nothing else comes close.

- [Natasha] Yeah.

- And look at the
TESS predictions.

I mean, even the
simulated sample

from TESS doesn't
reach down there.

I mean, Trappist, I
think unless we get

extraordinarily lucky, Trappist
is going to remain this

singular system,
completely unique.

- Trappist is just so cool.

Especially if some
of those planets

could have water features.

- All right, we'll
pick this up later.

- Okay.

- You can leave that.

It's nice that my daughter is
actually involved with this.

So I do feel like I'm
passing something on.

- [Natasha] I am designing
the observing program

that we're going to use with
the James Webb Space Telescope

to observe Trappist-1E.

- [Nathaniel] And 1E is what?

That's one of the planets?

- Yes, the Trappist
star is much redder

and only about half the
temperature of our own sun.

B and C are probably far too hot

to be able to sustain
surface liquid water.

The habitable zone,

which is also sometimes
called the Goldilocks zone,

is right about here.

And E really sits
right in this region

where surface liquid water
could potentially exist,

which is what we think
we need for life.

And I can actually show you
this on a travel poster.

And so here you can actually
see what you would be seeing

if you were sitting on the
surface of Trappist-1E.

- [Nathaniel] How do you
mean a travel poster?

What does it come from?

What is this?

- So this is an artist's
rendering of Trappist-1E.

It says, "Voted best
hab zone vacation

within 12 parsecs of Earth."

- [Nathaniel] And below it,
does it describe it at all?

- It says, "Some 40
light years from Earth

a planet called Trappist-1E
offers heart-stopping view.

Brilliant objects in
a red sky looming like

larger and smaller
versions of our own moon."

- [Nathaniel] You're
part of a team,

right, that's doing this?

- Right, right, right.

So when James Webb is launching

we will be able to measure
the atmosphere composition

of some of these planets.

- [Nathaniel] So tell me,

how did you come to
study exoplanets, then?

- When I was really little,

probably eight or
nine, my mom had

me and all my siblings draw
pictures of astronauts.

And I was so proud to show
her and she looks at it

and she goes, "Oh yeah,
you know, that's awesome.

Why did you draw a white man?"

You know, my mom is
a female scientist.

My dad is a Latin scientist

and I had drawn this white man.

And I was so shocked and
I think moving forward

I was always
conscious about that.

And instead of being
some, you know,

being something that
kind of discouraged me,

I think that that
kind of empowered me.

(man speaking
indistinctly over radio)

- We all have the same
desires and wants and

and generally science
and NASA missions

brings those things
to the table.

Unfortunately, in the
space science community

it hasn't been as
diverse as it should be.

And one of the things with
exoplanets, it's newer.

Generally the newer sciences
attract more diverse teams.

So yes, that really
excites me and

we're scientists and
engineers, right?

So certainly we follow the data.

All of the data supports
that, that teams are

far more successful and better
when they're more diverse.

So I always say,
"Now's the time."

And I think now's the time.

- [Technician] Nothing?

Okay, let's get started.

Any questions guys?

- Only four more to go.

(laughing)

- We don't want the
telescope portion

of the Webb Telescope
to see any of the sun

because we're trying to
keep it very, very cold.

In order to detect heat
signature, infrared signature,

it obviously needs
to be very cold

or all it's going to
measure is just itself.

- Minus J mid, MTS full
deployment, layer one.

- In space, really the only
thing that will heat you up

is the electronics
that you've got

and a really bright
source, which is the sun.

And that's the purpose
of the sunshield.

The sunshield
keeps the telescope

from getting all that sunlight.

So it stays cold.

- [Technician] Nice and
slow, guys, nice and slow.

- What's particularly
challenging is the fact that

we have to fold it up and
deploy it once we get on orbit.

- [Technician] Oh, stop.

- [Technician 2] Hold that.

What happened?

- [Technician] We
just lost the cable.

- [Jim Flynn] If you could
talk to Jon about that?

- Yeah, you know,
I'm gonna go get him

while we're doing layer four.

- [Technician] Okay.

- [Amy] We'll come
back and do layer five.

Brian, are you ready?

- [Brian] Ready.

- [Technician] You ready?

- [Brian] Yeah.

- [Technician] Going up.

- Layer one's running about
212 degrees Fahrenheit

and layer five on the
cold side is running

about minus 400
degrees Fahrenheit.

So it's approximately
a million SPF.

- [Jon] I'll tell you what,

you go and you kind
of pooch that up,

you're not going to
come anywhere close.

- [Technician] I can
take a look at it.

- [Jon] That's what
I need somebody

to explain to me, how that's
going to be okay on flight.

I've always set my
sights on big goals.

I'm a very competitive
person by nature.

I don't like to lose.

I like to prove myself
equal to any challenge.

- [Archival Newscaster]
America's first attempt

to launch a satellite.

- [Jon] When I was a little boy.

My father told stories.

- [Jon] He worked on Vanguard

and it blew up on
national television.

Just blew up, twice.

- [Trainer] Give me
one more, there you go.

Done, done, done, done, done

- [Jon] By the time I'm done

I will have been on the
program 12 and a half years

and it will all come down to
that very short period of time

between launch and when we
complete deployment about here.

It's not unlike
training for a meet.

I would train for months.

- [Trainer] Yeah, nice.

- For what literally was
a few seconds of activity.

We're all very well
aware that we have to

get this right the first
time, the only time,

because out at L2, repairman
doesn't make a house call.

We don't get that second chance.

It's a "one strike and
you're out" business.

(upbeat synth music)

- Sometimes I put music on,
like 80s music typically,

and just let my mind wander
to like what's out there.

- [Nathaniel] That's
your favorite music?

- [Sara] I just kind of like
the 80s, what about you?

- [Nathaniel] Oh yeah,
well that's my era too.

- The 80s is big now, you know?

Even my kids know all the
80s songs, lots of kids do.

- [Nathaniel] Really?

- Apparently, yeah,
apparently the 80s,

the beat is still very popular.

Interesting, right?

- [Nathaniel] Yeah,
that's interesting.

Where does the drive come from?

- I mean, the drive is
really the end goal,

which is finding another
Earth, a true Earth.

But, that's the drive, right,

but the joy is in the every day.

- [Nathaniel] And if we
could find another Earth

what do you think that
would mean for us?

- It's a tough one.

What do I think it'd mean?

Well, I don't know, I
feel like I have to ask

you and everyone else
what it would mean.

- [Nathaniel] Yeah.

- It would mean that
we're not alone.

It would mean that we're not
the center of the universe

and it would really
expand our horizons

as to what's out there
and who might be out there

as well as who we are.

- [Nathaniel] Who we are, yeah.

- [Loudspeaker] The
time is now 7:35pm

and the reservation
is now closed.

Please kindly gather
your belongings

and return to your vehicles
at the main exit gate.

Again, thank you for
visiting Walden Pond

and have a great evening.

- [Nathaniel] What's that?

- [Charles] So this
axis here has to

point to Polaris,
basically and--

- [Nathaniel] Polaris
is the North Star?

- Yeah, North Star.

Now the cameras.

So this is a one-shot color.

- [Nathaniel] What
do you think about,

you know, finding another Earth?

- Yeah, I understand the drive,

I understand the curiosity
and the journey of discovery

and the importance of discovery.

And that will change
things if we do find

another world that
has biosignatures

or evidence of life on it.

But we have life here.

And we have love here and
everything that matters to us,

really, and is important to us,

is right here on this earth.

And, you know, that's what's
important, you know, to me.

- [Nathaniel] You actually found

the love of your life
through astronomy.

At an astronomy meeting.

- Our eyes met at the wine
and cheese reception before

her talk and I was just
wondering who this person was.

And I didn't know she
was the keynote speaker.

And then the next day
she gave another talk

just before lunch and
after that, I decided,

which was probably the
most important decision

I made in my life
was to be healthy.

And I decided to get
a soup and a salad.

And I walked into the line,

there was a bit of a line
and she turned around

and I asked her, "Would you
like to join me for lunch?"

And she said yes
and we got a table

off to the side by
ourselves and, you know,

five minutes into
that conversation

I knew my life was
going to change.

I knew something
was going to happen.

- [Nathaniel] Don't
let me interrupt you

from continuing
with the telescope.

- Okay, let's get
back at this thing

and we'll see what we can...

- I don't really know
why anyone wants to know

why there's life out there.

I guess cause we're kind
of a lonely species.

I think loneliness
is a human condition

and everyone's sort of
trapped in their own head.

And we try with our lives in
various ways to be not lonely.

We find friends,
partners, mates, family,
you have children.

We're trying to
find life elsewhere

because we have a need and
a desire to communicate

and then to connect
in any way possible.

- [Technician] Ready?

Okay, Brain, ready.

- [Jon] Okay, we'll
try this again.

- Layer five on three, two, one.

10 inches of travel.

20 inches of travel.

30 inches of travel.

65 inches of travel.

80 inches of travel.

190 inches of travel.

197.

198.

Fully deployed.

(cheering)

- [Jon] This is hundreds
of man years of work.

I don't think it's
possible to overstate

how exciting this is.

It's another step, just like
completing the back plane

and completing the mirrors.

I'm going to have a
hard time concentrating

when I take Mom
to dinner tonight.

- [Technician] Yowza, wow.

- [Technician 2]
Wow, it looks good.

- [Technician] It
looks fantastic.

- All right, imagine
you are the Telescope

looking out on the universe,
looking out on the stars.

It's going to be dark and
cold out there where this is.

Imagine yourself frozen.

- [Technician 2] It has
no company out there,

out there in orbit,
it's all by itself.

If we see life on
another planet,

I mean, we have to
motivate to go say hello.

That's it.

They're there, we're here.

- [Nick] Just animals.

Everything in this whole
museum is basically animals.

Even the tiny ones,
but this is just

a tiny fraction of biodiversity.

This kind of complexity
doesn't happen easily.

- [Nathaniel] How did it happen?

Did it happen here?

- [Nick] Some people think
life started on the land.

I think it started down
at the bottom of the ocean

in hydrothermal vents
down across the sea floor.

The one that most
people know about

is a really dynamic system
called black smokers.

They were amazing because nobody

expected to see so
much life down there.

Weird forms of life.

Giant tube worms that don't
have a mouth or an anus

and enormous clams the
size of dinner plates and--

- [Nathaniel] A worm that
has neither mouth nor anus?

- Yeah.

- [Nathaniel] How does it eat?

- It doesn't eat.

I mean, it basically
uses the bacteria

that grow inside it to provide
it with organic molecules.

Well, there's
another kind of vent,

which I personally
think is the answer.

I like to think of them
as Gothic cathedrals.

Beautiful architecture
in the rock.

They're actually formed by
a much more gentle process.

Water will percolate down
beneath the ocean floor

and there's a particular
type of mineral.

It's called olivine.

You find it as dust
throughout interstellar space.

This is a really common mineral.

And the thing is it
will react with water

bubbling hydrogen gas out.

And that's basically
an environment

that's giving rise to life.

- [Nathaniel] Do you think that

there's life out there
beyond the Earth?

- I think we hope that
there's going to be

lots of amazing
complex life out there,

kind of semi human in the way
that it interacts with us.

And I think we're likely to be

quite disappointed about that.

You know, maybe we should
be interacting with

life on our own planet
in a more meaningful way.

- How far can you push a planet

in one direction
or the other and

still have it capable
of sustaining life?

During graduate school
I would walk from

the astronomy department down
to family-student housing.

We were studying
comparative planetology

and my head was full
of these images of

Mercury, Mars,
Venus, even the moon,

all of these lifeless worlds.

And so walking from the
department, you come up a knoll

and you all of a sudden emerge
from the redwood forests

open up onto this big
meadow, but you're up high.

So you see it as
this very thin veneer

of life stretched
out before you.

It looked like I could just
reach out and wipe it away

with a sponge, you know, like
cleaning the kitchen counter.

And I just had that feeling that

the difference
between a living world

and a lifeless
world was a small,

tiny difference, like
an accident, you know.

(thunder)

- It's been a rough
spring start but we had

a lot of heavy snow in February.

I mean a lot.

It was like every other day.

It would snow about
10 to 12 inches.

And the disasters
are getting worse

and they're getting stronger.

There's so many
people who don't...

they're like, "This
is how it is."

- [Nathaniel] You mean
climate change deniers?

- Well, like there's more fires.

There's more earthquakes.

They're happening
more frequently.

There's more tornadoes.

- It's like, a
couple blocks away

there's big trees that
are down, roots up.

- And there's
another cell coming

that looks just as
bad as last night's.

- It's bad.

- And there it is.

- Yeah, there's another
storm coming, yeah.

- [Maggie] Yeah, another one.

We're battening up the hatches.

Hi, I'm just leaving
the farmer's market.

Could you look at the radar

and plan what to
do with the bees?

- We're on the blue dot and
it's moving in our direction.

It looks pretty bad.

- [Alex Jones Radio Announcer]
The latest climate data

that broke last week proved that

the whole environmental
movement is a power grab.

The global warmists are a cult.

- Thanks for being open.
- Yeah.

- Amidst the storms here.

So this is beautiful.

- [Salesperson] We can
put it together for you.

- [Maggie] It's been
a while since I've

been shooting and
I really miss it.

- Yeah, you used to shoot a lot.

- [Maggie] I need
to do it again.

- Before, didn't you?

- [Maggie] Yeah, I've
been writing proposals

to the federal government
to fund my teams to fly

space missions and look for
life on other planets and--

- [Salesperson] Yeah,
have you found it yet?

- No, but we're
getting ever closer.

- [Salesperson] Do you believe
there's life out there?

- I feel like, how
can there not be?

This one planet
is so full of it.

It's hard to imagine how
that could happen here,

so richly, and then
everywhere else

in the whole universe
is just a sterile rock.

Surely life arises when
the conditions are right.

- Hmm, it's interesting topic.

- [Maggie] Yeah.

- Yeah, I started
listening to some podcasts.

I know he's very controversial,

but I was listening
to one with Alex Jones

and some of the
stuff he talks about

was like really,
really interesting.

If there is other life forms,

not just humans or aliens or

it could be plants or
anything, you know,

just something else out
there besides our Earth.

- [Alex Jones] San Francisco
is the main project site.

Literally have an
alien base and they are

literally communicating
and they've got like

astronaut level people
taking super hardcore

levels of drugs and going into
meetings with these things

and making intergalactic deals.

- [Alien] You didn't
actually think you were

the only inhabited
planet in the universe?

- Shh, listen.

- Uh, I'm from SETI,

Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence.

(Jill laughing)

- [Nathaniel] So if
the aliens get here,

are they going to wipe us out?

- Well, I think that
if they can get here,

that means that their technology

is significantly
in advance of ours.

So they're older than we are.

And how did they get to be old?

Because they outgrew
all of the aggression

that was probably part
of their evolution

to become intelligent.

We show many different
indications that
we won't make it.

That we will in fact
do ourselves in before

we become an old
technological civilization.

So if they can get here,
I'm more inclined to

talk with them rather
than worry about

them eating me for breakfast.

I was sent last night, a link
to an old Johnny Carson show,

from the late 70s,
with Carl Sagan.

- I mean, here he
is, a professor of

astronomy and space
sciences at Cornell.

Director of the Laboratory
for Planetary Study.

Would you welcome
please Dr. Carl Sagan.

- [Jill] This is just about
reaching the Trappist system.

- [Johnny Carson]
You're looking for

extraterrestrial
intelligence, right?

How do you go about looking?

- It's little like
this. If you're an

advanced civilization and
you wish to communicate

to a backward civilization,
you talk slow and simple.

- [Johnny Carson] And
obviously we would be

the backward
civilization because

we do not have that capability.

(audience laughs)

People are going to ask
you, "What is the value?"

- We are at a very dangerous
moment in human history.

We are in the process
of inadvertently
altering our climate

and all kinds of problems,
which come with technology.

We are not certain that
we will be able to survive

this period that I like to
call technological adolescence.

But were we to receive a
message from somewhere else,

it would show that it's possible

to survive this kind of period.

- [Johnny Carson] Now
wouldn't that be something.

In other words
somebody has solved

a particular problem we
are still wrestling with.

- [Carl Sagan] It's good to
know the problem can be solved.

I think it would be very useful.

- [Nathaniel] We going to
find them in your lifetime?

- [Jill] I don't know how
long I'm going to live.

I know we're going
to try and look.

- [Nathaniel] We keep trying.

- [Jill] We do
keep trying trying.

(epic music)

- [Jon] The James Webb Telescope
will achieve its mission,

but we have to go through
all of the engineering

and all the checkouts
to make sure

that that is indeed a fact.

Eventually we'll go all the
way through the Panama Canal

to French Guiana where
the Europeans have
their launch site.

And they're providing the
rocket and the Telescope

will go up from
there a million miles

out into space and
get ready to work.

- [Jon] This is where we're
going to test the telescope

and its detectors in a
space-like environment.

Chamber A was originally
built for the Apollo program

to test the command module
with the astronauts in it.

We're here building
on the legacy that

the country built in the 60s.

- Ladies and
gentlemen, Mr. Webb,

the director of
the space program.

- Ladies and gentlemen--

- James Webb was the
administrator early
on in NASA's life,

during the early stages
of the Apollo program,

working with Kennedy to
establish that program

to get us up to
landing on the moon.

It was that commitment
to science that he had.

Now, we still have a bunch of

environmental testings
that we have to do,

vibration testing and
acoustics testing,

because what we want
to do is make sure

now it survives
the rocket launch,

which is still the most violent
environment that we see.

- [Scott] We bring it in here,

the sunshield in its
stowed cocoon state.

We subject this to the
sound noise of the rocket.

Because when the rocket launches
it doesn't just vibrate,

it also hits you
with sound waves.

And it pushes on
you with pressure.

And we need to prove that our
vehicle will survive that.

So we hit this thing
with what's called

protoflight acoustic test levels

and we run it across
a frequency spectrum.

(oscillating sound)

(alarm blaring)

- We found a screw and a nut.

We had a few dozen that
actually separated in this test

because there's a thousand
of these little screws.

You know, there's probably
a lot of people on

high floors of buildings
waiting to hear

that Webb has made it today.

We're kind of in,
say, one of the

more humbling
points on a career,

when you know you
have to go tell people

that test wasn't successful.

(gavel banging)

- The Subcommittee on Space
will now come to order.

Today's hearing we'll
focus on the serious issues

associated with the James
Webb Space Telescope.

- When we integrated
the spacecraft element
and did testing,

we made all kinds of discoveries
that were unfortunate

and not just
unfortunate, problematic.

- Although I've heard
testimony how important it is.

I understand that.

It's very frustrating to
me and other taxpayers

that this is so much
of a cost overrun.

- Every screw has to
have its quality tested.

I can tell you,
this is about the

biggest screw job
I've ever seen.

And it's the taxpayers who
are getting screwed here.

- We want to make these
mistakes here on Earth

because that mistake,
if it was in space,

it would be too late.

It can't be fixed.

(soft music)

- Once we install it, it's there

for the rest of the mission.

So we've got to get it
right the first time.

- And then it gets ready to go?

- [Jon] It's still got
a lot more testing.

- Oh.

- And assembly to
withstand launch.

- [Jon's Mom] Now all I have
to do is live to see it go.

- [Jon] No, you got
to make it till your

grandchildren get
out of college.

And that will happen
after we launch.

- That's true.

- [Nathaniel] What do
you think about when you

contemplate our cousins
and our ancestors?

- Mortality.

- [Nathaniel]
Well, as a species?

- Well, I mean it's
more and more clear that

you know, looking
at these skulls,

that there have been
numerous human species

and they've all gone
extinct apart from us,

usually because of us, usually
after interbreeding with us.

Do you feel some guilt when you
look into those ice sockets?

I do.

Why?

Because we know
about this history.

There's some guilt in
human history in the way

that we've dealt with
other human species.

Our own history dealing,
different racial
history and so on.

We need to learn.

How do we bring the best side
out in our own societies?

You know, we're within
touching distance of

at least finding out.

And the idea that we might
find life is an exciting one.

Though, what do we
expect to see out there?

If it's not nothing,

the overwhelming likelihood
is it's bacteria.

And if we see somehow that
we've got way beyond bacteria

to large complex
life, that means this.

It means microscopic life.

It means tiny animals.

It's a wealth of life.

And yet, somehow I think most
people will be disappointed

if all they found was
microscopic sludge.

- [Nathaniel] Would
you be disappointed?

- No, I think I would be
astonished to find that.

To find anything more than
bacteria, I would be astonished.

Perhaps part of the point of
looking out there for life

is to realize just how valuable

the life is that we have here.

(haunting music)

- Physically, evolution
made us, biology made us

but the things of biology
were created in stars.

The water, the carbon,
the nitrogen, the oxygen.

All of that was
created in stars.

People will say,
"Well, if there are

10 to the 22 stars out there,

there must be more
life than just us."

However, it turns out the
number of coincidences

that have to occur
for life to emerge

is also a very large number.

We have to have a
star like our sun

that lives at least
10 billion years old.

It has to be in
exactly the right

part of the galaxy
to start with.

We might need to have a moon.

We might need to
have geothermal,

cause we need a magnetic
field to protect us.

And then evolution
had to happen.

And then you keep
on going and, well,

you know, the dinosaurs evolved
and they were around for,

I don't know, 100,
200 million years.

Nothing happened.

They didn't evolve
into anything.

They got bigger and
bigger and bigger.

And then the meteor came
and wiped them all out.

And then these small warm
blooded animals evolved to us.

But that was an accident.

How many accidents
need to happen

for intelligent life to form?

We just don't know because we
only have us, the one example.

It might only be one part in
10 to the 22 that life emerged.

So we could actually be alone.

- And you know, I had
all these accomplishments

I became a professor
and then I got married.

I had like the perfect husband,

perfect kids and
the perfect house.

I had everything.

And I had such a great life.

And then my husband
got sick and he died.

And so after that,
what do you do?

What do you do next?

Like you can't return to
your everyday existence

and just like cook dinner.

Which I never did
and I still don't.

But it's just the sort of
thing that you can relate to.

You know, I just
can't explain it

but the everyday
normal things you do,

they're just meaningless.

I went to my book club
and the women were

complaining about
their husbands.

Like, "Who's gonna
pick up the kid?"

And I'm like, "Give me a break."

You know, I just couldn't live
with normal people anymore.

I realized that whatever
I was going to do next

would be impactful.

Why waste time?

Out of all my
accomplishments in life,

helping my husband have a death,

like a perfect death, was
probably my biggest one.

It was really sad
when I, when he,

it's sort of funny but
sad, but I told him

before he died his death
would have meaning and that,

you know, I'm trying to
describe it in a way that

will be funny,
but it's too hard.

Well, just give me
a second cause I

really want to tell
you, it's really funny.

It was like, "Mike, you
know your death has meaning.

I'm going to do big things
because I've realized

it's, you know,
things that matter."

And he just like, it was funny
cause he could barely talk.

Like if you know
anyone who's dying,

they're not able to communicate.

And he just looks
at me and goes,

"Sarah, you would
have done it anyway."

And that was one of
our last conversations.

It's not that I have to

find the Earth and
name it after him.

It's more of the
search for meaning

and how to live
a meaningful life

and how to do something that
actually makes a difference.

That's his legacy.

I have to have meaning.

I have to do something
that has some importance

as seen by myself because
otherwise I have nothing.

Does that make sense?

- So, can I just be
really blunt with you?

- [Nathaniel] Sure.

- While I understand there's
a longer story arc to this,

this very complicated and
very expensive mission

that has been delayed yet again.

I can shoot bull's
eyes all day and then

as soon as somebody
comes along and says,

"Oh, you're doing
really well," it's over.

No, I won't hit a thing.

At some point, the only
thing that can save you

would be somebody high
level in the administration

who just says, "We're
devoting the resources."

And Congress would
have to back that up.

If you're going to do
something, just do it right.

- [Visitor] Now, see there's,
that's good, that's good.

- Yeah, so that's more
accurate and precise.

We only have, not only
just one precious planet,

it's this time, the
specific time of now,

where we have to live.

What are you tasting?

What are you tasting?

Tasting something?

It's taking the salt off
my fingers right now.

I hope, you know, for
the sake of all of us,

I hope that JW just gets
off the ground, flies,

and does well at
everything that it does

and performs all
of its objectives.

(bird chirping)

(phone ringing)

- [Natasha] Hey.

- [Hannah] Hello.

- So it sounds like
we should stick with

Trappist-1E and then look
at this plan in detail

and make sure that
we have it finalized.

- This is our observation
plan, you mean?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

It's going to be a really good
test of the telescope itself.

- I'd be really interested
to understand, you know,

if they are tidally
locked, like the moon.

Like, what that means for having

a permanent day and a
permanent night side.

- There would be some people
who would constantly be

living in daylight
and then other people

who would be constantly
living in darkness?

- Right and the best place
to be on these planets

would probably be
perpetual twilight, right?

Or right around the--
- Right, right at the rim.

- [Nikole] And what
that would be like,

because living in the arctic
and you living through

perpetual twilight, it's
a very strange experience.

- [Natasha] Do we know what

the temperature
differences would be?

- [Nikole] As long
as there's air.

Air is very good.

They have substantial
atmospheres.

- [Hannah] My favorite
thing about Trappist

is that if you're on the
surface of one of the planets

you can see the other
planets resolved in the sky.

- [Natasha] Yeah, bigger
than the moon, right?

- So it would never
have been a question of,

you know, is the Earth,
the center of the universe?

I mean, it's crazy to think that

Trappist being 39
light years away

means that they can
hear what we were doing

on radio and television
39 years ago.

The first years of
Reagan, Madonna.

What do you think
they think about us?

Do you think that
they would think

that we're going in
the right direction?

- [Hannah] Interesting
question, I like that one.

- Well, so if they're
monitoring our culture,

they're also monitoring
like any sort of

atmospheric signals
as well, right?

- [Nikole] Yeah.

- So they're probably
watching, you know,

our carbon dioxide
emissions and all of this

and probably thinking--

- "What are they
doing down there?"

(indistinct radio chatter)

(haunting music)

- [WHO Director General] We
cannot say this loudly enough

or clearly enough
or often enough.

All countries can still change
the course of this pandemic.

(haunting music)

(protesters chanting)

- [Protesters] There
is no planet B!

There is no planet B,
there is no planet B!

- If we destroy this planet,

there is no other
planet to go to.

We only have one planet.

- I want to be
able to have kids.

I want my kids to be able
to swim in the ocean,

climb mountains, be in nature.

- Even if there was
an inhabitable planet,

we're just gonna ruin it
like we're ruining this one.

(protestors chanting)

- This is an emergency.

Our house is on fire.

(crowd cheering)

We deserve a safe future
and we demand a safe future.

Is that really too much to ask?

- [Crowd] No!

- [Matt] Hello,
nice to meet you.

- [Director Fausto]
Nice to meet you.

It's a pleasure
to have you here.

- [Matt] Thank you so much.

- [Nathaniel] But this was
the place that he was under--

- [Matt] He was under
house arrest for

starting a revolution that
people didn't want started.

- [Nathaniel] They
were afraid of it.

- [Matt] They were
afraid of what he saw.

They were afraid
of the fact that he

used observation to
upturn ancient wisdoms.

It isn't just that we're trying

to do amazing things
with telescopes,

look for other planets,

I mean, our generation,
my children are facing

real challenges on this planet.

How do we tackle
these global problems

which actually will affect
our own survival as a species?

It's going to take a
collective endeavor

with the type of groups we're

putting together
around the James Webb.

These are collaborative groups.

These are people who
want to work together.

It gives me hope
that we can change

the way we operate in the world.

Change the way we do
science, using data to say,

"Look what is
happening," and not just

going back and saying,
"I don't want to hear,"

or "I don't want to see."

Well, you know, they
said to Galileo,

"I don't want to hear,
I don't want to see."

And yes, they
sequestered him here

for the last 10
years of his life,

but here we are 400 years later

and we all know about Galileo

and we have to look up in
our history books to remember

who the Pope was that
actually put him away.

We remember Galileo.

I mean, Carl Sagan said it best.

It's going to take
us centuries to get

to the stars as a species.

And it's going to have to be
a better version of ourselves

to actually get that
far on this planet.

- Good morning, and welcome to

the second day of
the hearing entitled

"James Webb Space
Telescope Program

Breach and its Implications."

- We've had a lot of
discussion about cost

and the cost matters, but
I will tell you taxpayers

and all of us are way
more concerned about

value than cost at
the end of the day.

- James Webb should
continue based on its

extraordinary
scientific potential

and critical role in maintaining

US leadership in astronomy
and astrophysics.

Let's finish this incredibly
important project.

- Inspiring and challenging
projects such as the

James Webb Space Telescope are
an investment in our future.

We must not lose sight
of the importance

of bringing the James
Webb Space Telescope

to a successful outcome.

- All right, see you.

- See you, have a good day.

- I will.

- [Nathaniel] So this is like

the biggest day of
your career in a way.

(Amy laughs)

- [Amy] It's pretty big.

Been working seven
years towards this day.

So yeah, yeah, this
is going to be now

the James Webb Observatory.

Before, you know, it was like
this piece or that piece,

where now it's actually
all together one piece.

You can see the way it's going
to look when it's operating.

So yeah, it's kind
of a big deal.

Everyone's really excited.

The entire team's kind
of vibrating a little.

Ready.

- [Nathaniel] I'm not
allowed to follow you.

So this is goodbye, I guess.

Good luck.

- See you in a bit.

Ah, come on.

Dennis, I can't get in.

Thank you, see y'all.

- You know, Amy
has worked with me

since she joined the company

and I wanted her
taking over alignments

because it requires attention
to detail and people skills

and innate genius that's
necessary to do it.

And today is the
culmination as we

see the system go together but

it's going to go
together precisely

and it's got to end up
where it's supposed to be.

And that's the job to which she

has been devoted for
these last seven years.

Every piece of hardware, 500
odd pieces of ground support,

have a story, have a
team that's been devoted.

When I mean an act of
collective genius, I mean it.

- Many people have spent a
big chunk of their careers

developing this system,
done a tremendous job,

and they're ready to
go and I'm ready to go.

It's just in our DNA to explore.

So as far as we
send satellites out,

I think we should be
willing to send humans out

but we have to
learn how to do it.

It takes putting our
minds and heads together

around a common goal, and
I think we can do anything.

And human space flight
is always pretty special.

And Webb is certainly
in the same category

as human space
flight in my mind.

So this is my capstone.

The Webb is my capstone.

- [Natalie] You
know, I'm moving.

So cleaning out my
garage I found this

old binder paper
that's from high school

and the theme was the
American frontier.

You have to remember
this was the 80s

so the backdrop of this was
the space shuttle program.

And so I titled this
speech, "Would You Go?"

"The year is 2010.

America has just begun the
settlement of a new state.

But where is this state?

On a distant planet where only
a few have ventured before."

- [Nathaniel] And it's
called "Would you Go?"

- It's called "Would You Go?"

With a question
mark and everything.

Yes.

(laughing)

- [Natasha] So would you?

- Well, here's the thing.

My current adult
thinking is that

as important as exploration is,

love is probably even more so.

- [Nathaniel] What about
you, Natasha, would you go?

- I don't know.

I think I'd have
to take my posse,

all the people that
I love with me.

I wouldn't be able,
it wouldn't be

a thing that I would do alone.

I would have to take a,

I would have to take
my crew, you know?

- [Nathaniel] What about
you, Ellie, would you go?

- You know, it's
a good question.

I waffle on it all the time.

Going to Mars, you know?

It's tempting.

But still, I'd miss nature

in the way we have
it here on Earth.

- [Sara] For whatever
reason there's this thing.

I don't know if
this is true or not,

but you know if you meet someone

within two years of
when your husband died,

like two years is some
kind of magic number,

I don't know why.

And I was thinking, "My
two years is basically up.

So I guess it
didn't work for me."

Right?

So just before my
two year anniversary,

I was going to Canada.

I'd been invited to
give a keynote talk.

So I go to the
opening reception,

I see this guy across
the room and I'm like,

"Wow, who's that guy?

I have to meet him."

And after my talk, I go to the
cafeteria a little bit late

and there he is in the cafeteria

and he's with only
one other person.

And he's like, "Oh, do
you want to have lunch?"

I'm like, "Sure."

So we go and sit down for lunch
and I'm thinking to myself,

"Wow, I can't believe I finally
get to talk to this guy."

I left to go home
and then we skyped.

In the very beginning
it was like,

"I don't know what to do with
this cause it's far away."

And then I'm thinking, "You
know, this is good for me.

I can crush on a guy.

I can just shut the computer

if I don't feel
like talking to him,

if it gets too personal."

In January, he was going
to London for work.

And he's like, "Sarah, I'm
going a few days early.

I hope you'll join me,
I want to invite you."

And I wasn't sure
what to do, but okay.

Of course I'm
going to go, right?

So I go to London and I'm like,

"Wow, I don't know, are
we boyfriend, girlfriend?"

I'm not really sure.

I'm just like, "Oh my God, like,

when am I going to
get my first kiss?"

You know, here I'm
like a grownup here.

This is ridiculous, right?

After dinner one night
he takes me on a walk.

It's like raining cause you know

in London it's always miserable.

And there we are in front
of Buckingham Palace

and I got my first kiss.

And after that, it really was,

it felt like the romance
of the millennium.

- Time is a very funny thing.

And particularly the
disconnect between human time,

geological time and
cosmic time, right?

We don't interface very well
with those longer timescales.

And thinking about the far
future is really difficult.

But if we're going to
have a long future,

we've got to outgrow
all the kind of

aggressive tendencies
and think about

what kind of place
that would be,

where people actually valued

all life and took care of
themselves, one another.

(intense music)

- The hardest place
is when you have to

just watch it all
come to fruition.

It's like when you're
kid finally gets

on the field and is
swinging the bat.

I mean, you've got to sit
there and be a good parent.

I'm sure Amy will be a
good parent out there.

- I wonder if Amy had
them go check something

because she's staring
up at something.

- Yeah.

- [Amy] That one.

- [Technician] Now
let's just start

getting everything in
position and we'll see...

- [Amy] Then we
should come down.

- [Technician] Going down.

(upbeat orchestral music)

(indistinct chatter)

- It's just magic, it's magic.

- [Amy] It'd be awfully,
awfully interesting

to look at another
place and say,

"Oh, there's signatures
of life there."

It may not be
conclusive evidence,

but it sure would get
people very, very excited.

- [Nathaniel] Do you think
there's life out there?

- Yeah, I think
there's life out there.

Can we find them?

I think we will.

In my lifetime?

God, I hope so.

Because, I want
to know. You know?

(ducks quacking)

- [Sara] Charles.

- [Charles] Oh, hi Sara.

- [Sara] How'd it go?

- Well, I've set up the
telescope and I'm just

waiting for it to get dark
enough to do an alignment and--

- [Sara] Looks great.

- [Charles] Yeah.

- [Sara] What's up tonight?

- [Charles] Well, as soon
as it gets a bit darker,

maybe we'll look
at some galaxies.

I don't think Jupiter
and any of the planets

are going to be up
till later tonight.

- [Sara] Okay.

You see any stars yet?

- Not yet, not yet.

But patiently waiting for at
least Polaris to poke out.

- [Sara] Right, right.

- But maybe we can
discover some exoplanets.

(laughing)

There's fish jumping out there.

(duck quacking)

- [Charles] There it is.

- [Sara] Wow, that's
really pretty.

- [Charles] The
Whirlpool Galaxy M51,

one of my summer favorites.

- [Sara] It's amazing that

we can see it with
this telescope.

- [Charles] Yeah.

- And just how vast, like
that's so huge, that scale.

- [Charles] Yeah, we
are tiny, aren't we?

- [Sara] Really tiny.

Maybe there's a planet around
a star there looking back...

- [Charles] At our
spiral galaxy...

- [Sara] Maybe there
are two people like us.

- [Charles] Yeah, maybe.

(chuckles)

It's wonderful to be able to

wonder about the
universe together.

- [Sara] It really is.

(soft guitar music)

¶ Fly me to the moon

¶ And let me play
among the stars ¶

¶ Let me see what spring is
like on Jupiter and Mars ¶

¶ In other words, hold my hand

¶ In other words,
darling, kiss me ¶

¶ Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forevermore ¶

(rocket rumbling)

¶ You are all I long for,
all I worship and adore ¶

¶ In other words,
please be true ¶

¶ In other words, I love you

¶ Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forevermore ¶

¶ You are all I long for,
all I worship and adore ¶

¶ In other words,
please be true ¶

¶ And in other
words, I love you ¶

¶ And in other
words, I love you ¶

(haunting music)