All language subtitles for Mars.One.Day.On.The.Red.Planet English (SDH).eng

af Afrikaans
ak Akan
sq Albanian
am Amharic
ar Arabic
hy Armenian
az Azerbaijani
eu Basque
be Belarusian
bem Bemba
bn Bengali
bh Bihari
bs Bosnian
br Breton
bg Bulgarian
km Cambodian
ca Catalan
chr Cherokee
ny Chichewa
zh-CN Chinese (Simplified)
zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)
co Corsican
hr Croatian
cs Czech
da Danish
nl Dutch
en English
eo Esperanto
et Estonian
ee Ewe
fo Faroese
tl Filipino
fi Finnish
fr French Download
fy Frisian
gaa Ga
gl Galician
ka Georgian
de German
el Greek
gn Guarani
gu Gujarati
ht Haitian Creole
ha Hausa
haw Hawaiian
iw Hebrew
hi Hindi
hu Hungarian
is Icelandic
ig Igbo
id Indonesian
ia Interlingua
ga Irish
it Italian
ja Japanese
jw Javanese
kn Kannada
kk Kazakh
rw Kinyarwanda
rn Kirundi
kg Kongo
ko Korean
kri Krio (Sierra Leone)
ku Kurdish
ckb Kurdish (Soranî)
ky Kyrgyz
lo Laothian
la Latin
lv Latvian
ln Lingala
lt Lithuanian
loz Lozi
lg Luganda
ach Luo
mk Macedonian
mg Malagasy
ms Malay
ml Malayalam
mt Maltese
mi Maori
mr Marathi
mfe Mauritian Creole
mo Moldavian
mn Mongolian
sr-ME Montenegrin
ne Nepali
pcm Nigerian Pidgin
nso Northern Sotho
no Norwegian
nn Norwegian (Nynorsk)
oc Occitan
or Oriya
om Oromo
ps Pashto
fa Persian
pl Polish
pt-BR Portuguese (Brazil)
pt-PT Portuguese (Portugal)
pa Punjabi
qu Quechua
ro Romanian
rm Romansh
nyn Runyakitara
ru Russian
gd Scots Gaelic
sr Serbian
sh Serbo-Croatian
st Sesotho
tn Setswana
crs Seychellois Creole
sn Shona
sd Sindhi
si Sinhalese
sk Slovak
sl Slovenian
so Somali
es Spanish
es-419 Spanish (Latin American)
su Sundanese
sw Swahili
sv Swedish
tg Tajik
ta Tamil
tt Tatar
te Telugu
th Thai
ti Tigrinya
to Tonga
lua Tshiluba
tum Tumbuka
tr Turkish
tk Turkmen
tw Twi
ug Uighur
uk Ukrainian
ur Urdu
uz Uzbek
vi Vietnamese
cy Welsh
wo Wolof
xh Xhosa
yi Yiddish
yo Yoruba
zu Zulu
Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:05,920 (instrumental music) 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,840 NARRATOR: 140 million miles from Earth. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,560 Our planetary neighbor and our greatest mystery... 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:26,000 Mars. 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,320 For centuries we've gazed at it in wonder. 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,320 But it's always remained out of our reach... 9 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,640 until now. 10 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,240 Today a pioneering spacecraft 11 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,400 is bringing the planet dramatically closer. 12 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:05,440 Pixel by pixel, it's beaming Mars back to us... 13 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,760 as we've never seen it before. 14 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,160 Now using these images, 15 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:20,640 we can do something remarkable. 16 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,080 And take you on a journey no human being 17 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,640 has ever been on before. 18 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,440 A single circuit of this world 19 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,880 from dawn to dusk. 20 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:47,720 Exploring its most spectacular... 21 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,400 and surprising features. 22 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:56,560 (rumbling) 23 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,400 On a mission to unlock its deepest secrets. 24 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:13,360 And we join the quest to answer the biggest question of all. 25 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:22,440 Is there life on Mars? 26 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,480 (beeping) 27 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,920 Our journey begins at a vast black spot, 28 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,440 one thousand miles wide. 29 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,760 This is where humanity's dream of Mars first began. 30 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,600 It's called Syrtis Major. 31 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:23,280 Hidden in this intriguing landscape is a mysterious feature, 32 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,840 that first made us hope that Mars could be Earth's sister. 33 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,680 Another planet teaming with life. 34 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,840 DERRICK: It's almost unthinkable that just 100 years ago, 35 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,800 people actually thought that there was civilizations on Mars 36 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,960 and if there was a civilization there, 37 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,320 what was the civilization like? 38 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,200 Did they have commerce? Did they have language? 39 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,200 Could we communicate with them? 40 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,720 Was there any chance for space travel so that we could connect with them? 41 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,840 NARRATOR: Here in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1894, 42 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:32,280 a Mars obsessed astronomer built a state of the art telescope, 43 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,040 to study the red planet in more detail than ever before. 44 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,760 What Percival Lowell saw would shock the world. 45 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:48,080 On the surface of the planet, 46 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,920 he made out patterns, structures, movement. 47 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,600 Mars appeared to be alive. 48 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,360 DERRICK: He looked at Mars every opportunity he had 49 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,960 and he kept records of what he saw. 50 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,240 Here are three of Percival Lowell's globes. 51 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,800 He's detailed out the regions of vegetation. 52 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,280 He also seemed to observe the change in the vegetation 53 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,720 over time and over seasons. 54 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,160 He's included vast networks of canals, 55 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,120 bringing water from the melting polar caps 56 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,480 down to the drier, dying regions of the planet, 57 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,320 providing water for the civilizations that he imagined that lived there. 58 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,280 NARRATOR: In the years after Lowell's discovery, 59 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,920 Mars fever gripped our planet. 60 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:51,920 (rumbling) 61 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,720 We imagined alien oceans, 62 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:01,480 exotic landscapes and bustling cities. 63 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,320 Even Martians staring back at us. 64 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,400 (roaring) 65 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,360 But we didn't get a chance to find out if we were right, 66 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,160 until 1964. 67 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,760 MAN (over radio): Three, two, one, zero. 68 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:27,640 All engines running, lift off. 69 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:31,400 Roger, one, three seconds. 70 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:34,480 MAN 2 (over radio): We're on our way. 71 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,640 NARRATOR: Mariner 4 was NASA's first successful mission 72 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:42,840 to the red planet. 73 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,920 At last a chance to study Mars up close. 74 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,720 There was pressure. There was definite pressure. 75 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,040 We were inventing stuff every step of the way. 76 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:00,440 It was exciting. 77 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,320 But you're working hard, had guys working 50, 60 hours a week. 78 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:09,160 This was the 60's, the dawn of the space age. 79 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,720 And it just fired our imagination about you know, what could be there? 80 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,040 Who could be there? 81 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,440 AMY: Mariner 4 was a huge deal, 82 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,040 because we'd never really seen the surface of Mars, 83 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,720 all we had was people looking at Mars with a telescope 84 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:23,920 and drawing what they saw. 85 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:27,800 The public was expecting to see these 86 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,720 lush civilizations built by Martians. 87 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,960 I was 13 and I actually can remember 88 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:37,800 watching the 6:00 news and this was broadcast nationwide. 89 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,480 NARRATOR: Nervously, the world waited to see 90 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,120 the first ever close-up image of Mars. 91 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,680 (indistinct conversation) 92 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:02,840 MAN (over PA): Picture number one is coming in. 93 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,080 JOHN: We didn't know what it was gonna look like. 94 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:10,960 It took eight hours to get one picture back. 95 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,080 We had these little tape recorders that would just 96 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,560 print one line of numbers after another, 97 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:19,760 and each pixel was represented by one number 98 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:21,600 on this little strip chart. 99 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,120 So we got the idea of, why didn't we just take that 100 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:29,600 and color those numbers appropriately. 101 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:38,120 NARRATOR: As the data came back, a picture emerged. 102 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,240 MICHIO: It did not show a tropical environment 103 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,600 with cities and gleaming skyscrapers. 104 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:53,680 No. 105 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,040 No canals, no oceans, no rivers. 106 00:08:58,120 --> 00:08:59,760 No vegetation, no forests. 107 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:01,320 We didn't see any cities, 108 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,680 we didn't see any Martians walking around at all. 109 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,960 Mariner 4 was a historical bummer. 110 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:09,600 (indistinct conversation) 111 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,080 What amazed me was, 112 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:15,680 when the first pictures came back, 113 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,320 the first thing you noticed is that it's dominated with craters. 114 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,120 I never heard anybody predict that. 115 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,680 I did never hear anybody in the science community saying, 116 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,000 "Well, when we get there, 117 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:27,280 it's gonna look a lot like the moon. 118 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:28,920 There's gonna be craters." 119 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:30,600 No, there was never any of that. 120 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,200 NARRATOR: For all our dreams of a living Mars, 121 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,720 we seem to have found a dead, deserted world. 122 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,000 How had we got it so wrong? 123 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:58,120 Today we can see the answer. 124 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,880 Circling above the planet's surface, a new electronic eye. 125 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,680 This is NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 126 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,520 On board, HiRISE-- 127 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,000 the most powerful camera we have ever sent to another world. 128 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:40,960 It's capturing Mars in unprecedented spectacular detail. 129 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,680 The HiRISE camera is a game-changer. 130 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,480 It gives us the illusion, 131 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,400 the feeling of flying over Mars in a helicopter. 132 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:06,760 The way you look out and almost touch the landscape. 133 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,240 Think about it-- One pixel, one dot on the HiRISE photograph 134 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,360 is the size of a basketball. 135 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:37,000 NARRATOR: HiRISE is showing us that Mars is much more than a barren desert. 136 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:46,160 It's revealing a world beyond our wildest imagination. 137 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,440 JAMES: This is just not beautiful, it is magnificent. 138 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,200 AMY: They look like abstract paintings. 139 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,240 DAVID: The planet comes alive 140 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,440 and you see this vibrancy and this-- this motion. 141 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,560 TANYA: The beautiful color palette of this planet, 142 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,560 that we've always just thought of as this red rock. 143 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:20,880 DAVID: But once you can see things in that detail, 144 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,640 it's like, whoa, I got a new prescription for my glasses 145 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,840 and all of a sudden I can see the world, (stammers) only it's the world of Mars. 146 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,920 NARRATOR: Using HiRISE data, we can now show you for the first time 147 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,880 what Syrtis Major really looks like. 148 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:53,440 This is a view no human has ever seen. 149 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,280 Over 100 foot tall, 150 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,360 stretching for 100 miles. 151 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,480 These are the Nili Patera sand dunes. 152 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,440 When Percival Lowell looked towards here, 153 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:20,720 he thought he saw life. 154 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,800 Today with HiRISE's powerful gaze, 155 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,480 we can see how he got Mars so wrong. 156 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:37,680 (electronic beep) 157 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:42,600 The dunes move in the Martian wind. 158 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,120 On a global scale, 159 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,840 sand can be seen being blown around Mars' surface. 160 00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:03,600 The size of shape of regions like Syrtis Major 161 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:04,960 ebb and flow. 162 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,240 DERRICK: Percival Lowell could see these large shaded regions 163 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,960 that seemed to grow and change over time. 164 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,000 Maybe even seasonally, very much like we see vegetation 165 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,440 changing with seasons here on Earth. 166 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,000 He was actually observing dust storms and shifting sands 167 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:28,600 on the surface of Mars. 168 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:33,560 NARRATOR: But was Lowell completely wrong? 169 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,120 For years, humanity thought so. 170 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,960 But now using HiRISE imagery, 171 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,680 we can glimpse something extraordinary. 172 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:52,600 A Mars that may once have been much more like his vision. 173 00:14:54,600 --> 00:15:00,560 It's a story that begins at our next destination. 174 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:09,840 (beeping) 175 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,120 3,200 miles southwest of Syrtis Major, 176 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,960 is a window into Mars' deepest past... 177 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:29,760 Noachis Terra. 178 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:31,960 Noah's Land. 179 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:38,760 At first glance, 180 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,080 this looks like another dead landscape, 181 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,200 but it holds an astonishing clue to a very different world. 182 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,920 A world with a real chance of life. 183 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,720 This is one of the most ancient places on Mars. 184 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,640 Noachis Terra is absolutely filled with craters. 185 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,000 AMY: Some are huge, the size of a city or an entire state. 186 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,400 Some of them are five or ten meters across, very small. 187 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,800 We can also see that some craters have been 188 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,080 overprinted with other craters. 189 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,080 MICHIO: Simply by counting and analyzing these craters 190 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:24,680 on Noachis Terra, 191 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,440 we think it dates back almost four billion years. 192 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,960 NARRATOR: Now we can build these craters from real data. 193 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,320 Each is formed by a single meteorite impact, 194 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,640 that punched through rocks, billions of years old. 195 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,760 They are holes punched through time. 196 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,960 These craters are like opening doors into the geology of Mars, 197 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,840 we can use it to dig down through the various layers 198 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,400 and we can see almost every kind of Mars there was. 199 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,480 NARRATOR: These craters are 140 million miles away. 200 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:19,080 So their secrets might seem beyond our grasp, 201 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,760 but incredibly they can be unlocked. 202 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,160 By a rock found on Earth. 203 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,960 NARRATOR: This is a rock worth 200 times more than gold. 204 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,240 A rare and revealing treasure. 205 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,360 JAY: There's so many objects in this world that you can have. 206 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,040 You can have diamonds, you could have gold, 207 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,040 you could have houses, cars 208 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:58,240 and they really don't do anything for me. 209 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,560 And this is NWA 8-4-5-5. 210 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,000 This is NWA 10-608. 211 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,600 This is NWA 8-6-8-7, it's called a troctolite. 212 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,400 And I liked it 'cause it was shaped like a star. (laughs) 213 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:14,760 Meteorites are like my babies. 214 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:21,800 Sometime around May of 2011, 215 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,120 I had a friend in Morocco, he was a dealer. 216 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,760 (camera clicking) 217 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,720 He showed me a picture of this black rock found in the desert 218 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,760 that looked unlike anything either of us ever seen. 219 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,800 Then I said, "You know what, I think it's a meteorite." 220 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,600 It's called Black Beauty, NWA 70-34. 221 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,440 And I loved when I got it in my hands, 222 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,480 because the skin of it is so different. 223 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,440 And so I knew that it was special. 224 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,840 CARL: In this safe I have unknown meteorites, 225 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:02,360 they are things that I'm working on currently. 226 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,600 This is from the meteor crater. 227 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,840 This is a Lake Murray meteorite. 228 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,920 This is an iron meteorite that fell in Odessa, Texas. 229 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,760 One day I received a shipment from Jay 230 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,000 and I looked at this very unusual 231 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:25,600 dark black specimen-- 232 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:26,720 Black Beauty. 233 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,800 The first thing that I thought was, 234 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:37,440 this looks so black and shiny, it can't be real. 235 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,720 He told me he thought it had shoe shine polish or that 236 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,560 they polished it up and he really never saw anything like it. 237 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,840 And I said, "Hey, would you look at it, but don't cut into it." 238 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,320 And so I went over to the lab next door 239 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,280 and put it on a diamond saw 240 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,440 and sliced off the first piece of it. 241 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:56,640 (saw whirring) 242 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,680 I saw immediately that it wasn't something that had been faked-- 243 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,800 That it was actually something quite remarkable. 244 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,920 The analyses were suggestive of a Martian origin. 245 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:20,680 And it took about a year collaborating with other scientists 246 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:25,600 to assemble enough evidence that no one could argue with it. 247 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,320 JAY: It is mind boggling to me, 248 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,040 that I can hold a piece of Mars. 249 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:35,280 (beeping) 250 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,960 NARRATOR: The story of how this Martian rock ended up on Earth 251 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:49,680 is a remarkable one. 252 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,840 Mars' craters are the clue. 253 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,040 A violent meteorite strike, 254 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:06,280 punched deep into the planet's surface. 255 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,800 Fusing together ancient rocks, 256 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,360 to form Black Beauty. 257 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,400 Like shrapnel, it was launched into space. 258 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,680 And for millions of years, it wandered the solar system, 259 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,960 until it felt the tug of another planet's gravity. 260 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:00,720 Safe on Earth, 261 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,120 the secret for Mars' craters could be revealed. 262 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,520 CARL: What we have here is a section of Black Beauty 263 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,920 and from those grains, we're able to determine 264 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,760 a snapshot of geologic time and the geologic history of Mars. 265 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:26,560 NARRATOR: Hidden in the layers of rock, 266 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,240 Carl discovered something incredible. 267 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:35,760 CARL: We were astonished because out of Black Beauty was coming 268 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:37,320 a huge amount of water. 269 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:44,040 Black Beauty was soaked with Martian water 270 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:47,080 and remnants of that are still in there. 271 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,000 NARRATOR: So could water really have flowed on this dusty world? 272 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,640 Black Beauty only gives us a tiny, tantalizing hint. 273 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,080 To discover how big a part water played on ancient Mars... 274 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,040 we've had to send probes to the planet itself. 275 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,720 And that's proved a formidable challenge. 276 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,200 (beeping) 277 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,720 As we leave Noachis Terra behind, 278 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,640 and begin the next leg of our journey, 279 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,720 something strange sparkles in the Martian dust. 280 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,600 Mars is kind of a graveyard of spacecraft. 281 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,840 In fact, there's something called the Mars jinx. 282 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,760 Mars has its own plans for whether this is gonna go well, or not. 283 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,680 NARRATOR: The quest to find water and perhaps even life on Mars, 284 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,000 comes at a high cost. 285 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,840 More than half of the 45 missions sent to Mars ended in failure. 286 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,360 AMY: The Soviet Union was the first to start sending missions to Mars 287 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,920 in 1960 and they all failed. 288 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,800 Mars 2, Mars 3, the Mars Zond missions, the Cosmos missions, 289 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:41,160 the Phobos missions. 290 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,360 The Brits have tried, Europe has tried. 291 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,400 NASA's Mars climate orbiter burned up in the atmosphere, 292 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,880 because of a mix up between metric and imperial units. 293 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:52,720 (whirring) 294 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:57,760 It takes so long to get one of these missions 295 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,720 to go from a concept to actual hardware that you fly. 296 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:05,200 This is somebody's entire career and to see it just pfft. 297 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,800 You're going 13,000 miles an hour 298 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,680 and you have seven minutes to get down to zero miles an hour 299 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,160 and hit the surface gently. 300 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:18,720 There's enough energy and motion 301 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,840 that it can melt or vaporize the entire spacecraft. 302 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:22,960 (rumbling) 303 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,080 NAGIN: You can do everything right 304 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,600 and you can still have a bad day on Mars. 305 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,000 NARRATOR: Even if you can make it through the atmosphere... 306 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,040 (explosion) 307 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,440 ...landing is a whole new challenge. 308 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,160 ABIGAIL: It's nerve-racking 309 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,320 but, man, does it make it so exhilarating when it works. 310 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:54,880 NARRATOR: And some really do work. 311 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,440 One that made it to the surface, 312 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,960 became arguably the most successful mission ever. 313 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,960 Thanks to a mysterious alien force. 314 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:15,160 (beeping) 315 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,840 NARRATOR: The longest running rover that has ever explored Mars 316 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,120 can be found at our next destination. 317 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,120 The sandy plains of Meridiani Planum. 318 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,120 Still sitting here today is the lifeless shell 319 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,840 of NASA's Opportunity rover. 320 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,600 Expected to operate for 90 days, 321 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,760 it lasted 14 and a half years, 322 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:09,320 making a discovery that transformed our understanding of Mars. 323 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,560 And the key to its marathon mission was a mysterious force, 324 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,000 that leaves these strange patterns in the sand. 325 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,200 (beeping) 326 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,520 MAN (over radio): Three, two, main engines start, 327 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:38,400 zero and lift off of the Delta Rocket with Opportunity. 328 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,960 NARRATOR: Opportunity's mission was to hunt for evidence 329 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,040 of ancient water on Mars. 330 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:52,240 But first, it had to land where so many others had failed. 331 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,680 CALLAS: Landing on Mars is very difficult. 332 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,280 And so in those tense moments, either during the launch phase 333 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,240 or you know, the arrival and entry descent into landing, 334 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,600 you're on the edge of your seat, 335 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,040 waiting to hear word on whether you are successful 336 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:12,560 or whether it's a failure. 337 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,440 (instrumental music playing) 338 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:38,840 NARRATOR: To protect their rover, 339 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,800 the engineers came up with a plan as bizarre 340 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:44,480 as it was audacious. 341 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,160 MAN (over radio): Suspected retro rock and ignition on my mark. 342 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:47,200 Mark. 343 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,240 NARRATOR: Shock absorbers... 344 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,560 MAN (over radio): At this point in time, we should be on the ground. 345 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:03,960 NARRATOR: Space style. 346 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,040 CALLAS: When you think about half a billion-dollar spacecraft 347 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,240 inside this gigantic beach ball 348 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,000 bouncing around on the surface of Mars, 349 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,680 it goes into the category of "what were they thinking?" 350 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:34,760 (instrumental music playing) 351 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,360 NARRATOR: Opportunity was safe on the ground. 352 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,760 Now it began using its state of the art camera... 353 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:13,800 (cheering) 354 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,760 ...to capture the most detailed images of the Martian surface ever seen. 355 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,560 JAMES: When we landed and we saw the first view 356 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,520 it's like, seeing King Tut's tomb. 357 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,960 There's the story we've been waiting for. 358 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,080 I remember crying and saying, "This is exploration." 359 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,320 Opportunity is turning our camera back on this tiny little shallow crater 360 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,960 and looking at the deflated airbags. 361 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,200 ABIGAIL: Opportunity was able to leave the pad 362 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:03,800 and become a real rover. 363 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,800 NARRATOR: Opportunity showed us icy clouds 364 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,320 dancing across an alien sky. 365 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,960 Even the other worldly setting of our shared sun. 366 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,920 Opportunity's discoveries were truly breathtaking. 367 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:44,920 Everyone wanted to see more. 368 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:49,400 But the clock was ticking. 369 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,880 CALLAS: I knew then end would come at some point. 370 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:03,440 It's much like you have an aging parent. 371 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,560 Maybe they're in good health. 372 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,400 But you know that they're not gonna last forever. 373 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:12,760 Every day was precious. 374 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,320 We thought we had a finite amount of time to get our job done. 375 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,000 And it comes down to the fact that the rovers are solar powered. 376 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,360 We knew that Mars is a dusty place 377 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,080 and that the dust falls out of the atmosphere. 378 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,160 So we figured the rovers would have enough time to last 379 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,000 90 days before the solar rays were so dusty 380 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:40,960 that they couldn't generate enough energy. 381 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,520 But Mars and the rovers proved us wrong. 382 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:55,320 (wind howling) 383 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,280 NARRATOR: The Martian dust did make Opportunity's battery levels run down. 384 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,240 But then they would miraculously bounce back up. 385 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,920 The rovers engineers were perplexed. 386 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,480 But some astonishing images would provide the answer. 387 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:28,040 NARRATOR: As the Martian dust settled on NASA's solar powered rover, 388 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,960 the engineers were puzzled at how it kept going. 389 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,040 Then the received some extraordinary images. 390 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,120 We have actually a series of time lapse photographs 391 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,520 of the plains of Mars, 392 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,040 in which we captured a series of dust devils moving across. 393 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,000 And we think it's something like that 394 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,680 that cleaned the dust off the rover. 395 00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:20,840 NARRATOR: As these dust devils move across the landscape, 396 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,400 spiraling up to twelve miles into the sky, 397 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,560 they leave tell tail tracks behind them. 398 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,600 The mysterious patterns that we can see with HiRISE. 399 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:52,680 Incredibly it was Martian weather 400 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,160 that allowed Opportunity to explore Mars for so long. 401 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:06,560 But in July 2018, a global dust storm hit the planet. 402 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,800 CALLAS: The skies were so dark that you couldn't see the sun. 403 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,920 The rover got too cold and something broke inside. 404 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:17,680 We never heard from the rover again. 405 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,320 It's sad. It's emotional. 406 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,520 But to have fourteen and a half years was such a gift. 407 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,040 NARRATOR: Over its mission Opportunity sent back over 408 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,320 200,000 images. 409 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,040 Revealing a Mars we had never seen before 410 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,480 and confirming something extraordinary. 411 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,600 DERRICK: We can clearly see these wonderful layers of rock. 412 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,840 Sedimentary layers are always laid down in water. 413 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:05,360 NINA: We call these Blueberries because when we first saw them 414 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:07,800 we thought they looked like blueberries in a muffin. 415 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,600 DAVID: They were formed out of haematite. 416 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,480 They seem to be telling us of a time when there was 417 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:19,200 highly acidic water flowing through and over the ground of Mars. 418 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,560 NINA: This is a vein of the mineral, gypsum. 419 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,040 Has a lot of calcium and Sulphur in it. 420 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,720 And it only forms by evaporating water. 421 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,200 It's a mineral that has water chemically bound inside. 422 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,560 This was the smoking gun. We have it. 423 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,440 Water was here and we found it. 424 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,120 NARRATOR: The Black beauty meteorite revealed moisture 425 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,160 in an ancient Martian rock. 426 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,880 And Opportunity showed there were once pools of water 427 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,000 on the planet's surface. 428 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:16,920 Our next stop is one of the most intriguing features on the planet. 429 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:22,840 It will reveal just how different ancient Mars must have been. 430 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:26,520 (beeping) 431 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,240 1,600 miles from the final resting place 432 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:36,960 of NASA's Opportunity Rover, 433 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,040 is a chasm so huge that it's visible from space... 434 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,240 Nirgal Vallis. 435 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:53,440 A clue to Mars' former life etched into the rock. 436 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,840 DAVID: It's about 300 miles long. 437 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,960 It's narrower on one end and wider on the other. 438 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:06,360 We can see these long channels, like a tree, 439 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,000 all connected to a single trunk. 440 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,200 MELISSA: And these patterns they seem to start out of nowhere. 441 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,480 And then they get deeper and deeper as they go along. 442 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,320 And they connect together. 443 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:23,760 NINA: As planetary geologists we're studying the surface of the planet. 444 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,440 Like detectives trying to understand the history of a planet. 445 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,840 And how it came to be the way that it is today. 446 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,440 NARRATOR: Only one substance has the power to change 447 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,000 entire landscapes in this dramatic way. 448 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,760 KRISTEN: Water has a huge effect. 449 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:05,200 Chemically it slowly dissolves different components of the rock. 450 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,000 But geomorphically it can just do tons of work. 451 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,880 Water can move rock in incredibly fast ways. 452 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,280 And actually shift entire landscapes. 453 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:26,000 It leaves a print so you can see these beautiful canyons 454 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,040 carved out by rivers. 455 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,560 NARRATOR: Nirgal Vallis reveals that ancient Mars 456 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,000 was awash with water. 457 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,080 MELISSA: We're not talking about just a trickle of water. 458 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:40,440 We're talking about full rivers. 459 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,160 Full to their banks, flowing water. 460 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:44,480 There were oceans. 461 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:45,760 There were clouds in the sky. 462 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:46,960 There were rain storms. 463 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:48,920 There were floods across the surface. 464 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:50,760 MELISSA: We're talking huge volumes of water 465 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,120 and a whole cycle of water. 466 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:54,440 Precipitation. 467 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,040 Maybe snowfall on the tops of mountains. 468 00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:59,400 (beeping) 469 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,920 NARRATOR: To cut Nirgal Vallis into the landscape, 470 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,560 would have taken a raging torrent. 471 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:37,000 A river one and a half times the size of the Nile. 472 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:49,120 Carrying 4,800 cubic meters of water 473 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:50,880 every second. 474 00:41:19,240 --> 00:41:21,360 DERRICK: You know Percival Lowell might not have been 475 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,040 that wrong after all. 476 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:27,040 Although he might have been off by four billion years or so. 477 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,120 But it looks like Mars is a much more intriguing planet 478 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:32,720 than ever through before. 479 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,120 NARRATOR: But if Mars once looked like this, 480 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,160 where did all the water go? 481 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,120 (beeping) 482 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:01,200 NARRATOR: Eight hundred miles west of Nirgal Vallis 483 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,360 lie a pair of colossal features 484 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,560 the most spectacular on the planet. 485 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,600 They helped solve the mystery of Mars' missing water. 486 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,760 The first, a gigantic cut 487 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,080 running a fifth of the way around the entire plant... 488 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,200 Valles Marineris. 489 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:27,760 MICHIO: It is about the size of the United States of America. 490 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,280 It would extend from Los Angeles all the way out to New York City. 491 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:34,920 It's six miles deep. 492 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:36,840 It's 150 miles wide. 493 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,440 If you stood on one end you couldn't see the other end 494 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:42,080 because the planet itself would curve away from you. 495 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,880 It's just incomprehensible how big this thing is. 496 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,840 It's the longest canyon in the solar system. 497 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:50,920 It's the big daddy. 498 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:58,600 NARRATOR: Just over the horizon a feature so enormous 499 00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:01,640 it looks unreal... 500 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,320 Olympus Mons. 501 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,320 ADAM: It's the biggest mountain in our solar system. 502 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,040 It's hard not to go there. Right? That's pretty cool. 503 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,200 It rises literally out of the atmosphere. 504 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,800 DERRICK: This volcano was two and a half times as tall as Mount Everest. 505 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:23,000 JAMES: Rising nearly 90,000 feet above its base. 506 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,440 DERRICK: Since the gravity on Mars is just one third that of Earth, 507 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:32,800 there's much less gravitational force holding things down. 508 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,080 And this is why Olympus Mons dwarfs anything on the Earth. 509 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,360 NINA: If you were to look at Olympus Mons from the side, 510 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,760 just you know if you were flying past Mars, 511 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,120 you could actually see the bump 512 00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,440 above the curvature of the planet. 513 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:48,600 That's how big it is. 514 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,040 NARRATOR: Both Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris 515 00:43:55,120 --> 00:44:00,240 are giant relics of an epic chapter in Mars' history. 516 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:08,320 They hold the story of how Mars once lived. 517 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:10,400 And why it died. 518 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:15,480 (beeping) 519 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:28,560 In Mars' infancy, raging volcanoes... 520 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:35,320 ejected a staggering billion, billion tons 521 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,520 of molten rock from its interior. 522 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:57,720 This lava formed a vast plateau 523 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:01,360 that stretched over 3,000 miles. 524 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,600 The colossal mass of this new rock 525 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,840 put huge stress on the surrounding crust. 526 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,680 Literally tearing the planet apart. 527 00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:46,280 Valles Marineris was born. 528 00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,000 But with the violence of early Mars... 529 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:02,160 ...came creation. 530 00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,520 MELISSA: When volcano's erupted on ancient Mars 531 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,400 they released all sorts of gases that made up the Martian atmosphere. 532 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:14,080 DAVID: Carbon dioxide. 533 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:15,920 Sulphur dioxide. 534 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,160 Methane. Water vapor. 535 00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:21,680 This contributes to creating a thicker atmosphere. 536 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,080 And once you have a thicker atmosphere 537 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,520 then you can have water existing on a surface. 538 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:30,640 MELISSA: There has to be enough atmospheric pressure 539 00:46:30,720 --> 00:46:32,840 to keep water in a liquid state. 540 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:36,800 Otherwise water goes directly from a solid as ice, 541 00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:38,000 into a vapor. 542 00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,120 Having enough atmospheric pressure 543 00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,240 is crucial to having running water on a surface. 544 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:52,280 NARRATOR: But Mars' atmosphere wasn't to last. 545 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:57,200 And the story of how it disappeared 546 00:46:58,720 --> 00:47:01,880 holds a terrible warning for us on Earth. 547 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:13,800 Our planet is protected by a force field. 548 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:19,200 It extends 40,000 miles into space. 549 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:23,760 But it's generated, 550 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:32,360 at Earth's very core. 551 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,520 DERRICK: It's really kinda terrifying if you think about it. 552 00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:45,160 We stand on a very thin skin that encloses 553 00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:47,920 essentially a molten ball of iron. 554 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:51,880 NINA: This ball of iron that is moving 555 00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:54,960 at a slightly different rate than the rest of the Earth. 556 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,080 It's kind of sloshing around in there. 557 00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,120 That creates a magnetic field. 558 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:02,400 That extends tens of thousands of miles out into space. 559 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,320 NARRATOR: The Aurora in our night sky 560 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,080 is much more than a pretty light show. 561 00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:25,160 You are perceiving directly Earth's magnetic field. 562 00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:27,960 It's a manifestation of this magnetic field. 563 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:32,920 DERRICK: Charged particles from the sun 564 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,360 travel through the solar system at supersonic speeds, 565 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:38,560 impacting the atmosphere of the Earth. 566 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:42,480 If we didn't have the magnetic field to deflect those around the Earth, 567 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,120 it would just slowly strip away 568 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:45,960 all the pieces of our atmosphere over time. 569 00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:50,760 GRUNSFELD: The atmosphere, you know, 570 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:52,960 is just this tiny thin blue line. 571 00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:55,400 Barely big enough to see. 572 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,280 And everything that lives on Earth 573 00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,040 is dependent on that thin blue line. 574 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:05,160 It really makes you think how fragile our existence is. 575 00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:09,880 NARRATOR: In the deep past 576 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,200 an Aurora also danced across Martian skies. 577 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:19,440 But Mars couldn't hold on to its precious force field. 578 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,120 About four billion years ago, 579 00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:25,640 a terrible chain reaction began. 580 00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:39,080 NARRATOR: Just like Earth, ancient Mars' magnetic shield 581 00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:41,080 protected its atmosphere 582 00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:47,760 and allowed water to exist on its surface. 583 00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:53,520 But it wasn't to last. 584 00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:58,520 MELISSA: The smaller you are the faster you lose heat. 585 00:49:58,600 --> 00:49:59,760 It's simple physics. 586 00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:04,600 DAVID: Think of if you take a bunch a bunch of potatoes 587 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:05,840 out of the oven. 588 00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:10,280 The tiny little mini potatoes will cool off very quickly. 589 00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:12,880 And the large ones will take much longer. 590 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:15,600 Mars being half the size of Earth, 591 00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:19,320 lost its heat faster than Earth has lost its heat. 592 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:22,120 As the planet cools the churning and the interior 593 00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:24,320 starts to slow down and stop. 594 00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,800 NARRATOR: Mars started to die from the inside out. 595 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,960 The protective force field began to falter. 596 00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:42,320 The solar winds stripped away the atmosphere. 597 00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:48,760 Volcanoes fell silent. 598 00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:55,480 Gases no longer replenished the skies. 599 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:04,560 The planet's water evaporated into space... 600 00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:12,960 killing Mars. 601 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,320 (beeping) 602 00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:27,960 Today there are only two places on Mars' surface 603 00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,360 where water can still be found. 604 00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:34,120 They're the next stops on our journey. 605 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:40,000 The planet's most spectacular and alien landscapes. 606 00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:43,400 Its poles. 607 00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:46,480 Mars has two polar caps 608 00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:48,920 and each has their own distinct personality. 609 00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:56,880 The Mars North Pole is like this beautiful 610 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:00,640 hockey puck of ice about the size of Greenland. 611 00:52:02,240 --> 00:52:06,000 It's 600 miles wide and 1.2 miles deep. 612 00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:09,960 TANYA: The northern polar cap of Mars 613 00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:11,360 has these amazing dune fields. 614 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:16,320 And these striking cliffs that skirt along the outside. 615 00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:19,960 We've even spotted avalanches in progress. 616 00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:30,840 NARRATOR: At the other end of the planet, 617 00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:34,400 the landscapes are even more breathtaking. 618 00:52:35,720 --> 00:52:39,480 The south polar cap is over two miles thick. 619 00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:40,520 That's a lot of ice. 620 00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:44,680 MELISSA: The polar cap forms these incredible 621 00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:48,240 swirling patterns in whites and oranges and reds. 622 00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:51,480 It reminds me of orange sherbet or a dreamsicle. 623 00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:55,920 TANYA: There are these bizarre kaleidoscopic patterns. 624 00:52:59,800 --> 00:53:02,800 JAMES: Areas where some of the landscape has disappeared, 625 00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:04,200 the holes. 626 00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:06,560 Other places where it's built up as rings. 627 00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:09,280 It almost defies words. 628 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:12,120 It's Ansell Adam-esqe but not terrestrial. 629 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:16,680 NARRATOR: Some volatile force must have shaped this 630 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:18,480 fantastical terrain. 631 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:21,800 But it can't be the water. 632 00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:27,800 It's so cold here that it remains eternally frozen... 633 00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:30,000 like concrete. 634 00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:32,040 So what is it? 635 00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:35,760 The answer lies at the edge of the ice cap. 636 00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:41,840 And its revealed by HiRISE. 637 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:44,880 NINA: We can see here that these are really 638 00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:49,840 strange little starburst features that radiate out from the center. 639 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:55,480 And so for obvious reasons we call them spiders. 640 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,080 NINA: It turns out that Mars has seasons 641 00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:05,680 just like the Earth does. 642 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:10,720 So as winter approaches in the southern hemisphere of Mars, 643 00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:13,480 the temperature basically plummets. 644 00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:17,040 We get things like frost and snow. But with a difference. 645 00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:34,280 This isn't water snow. 646 00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:38,040 It's actually snow made out of carbon dioxide or dry ice. 647 00:54:40,720 --> 00:54:41,920 It's alien yeah. 648 00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:43,720 I mean we don't see anything like that on Earth. 649 00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:47,400 NARRATOR: For the duration of winter 650 00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:52,040 temperatures never climb above minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit. 651 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:55,960 The entire polar region, 652 00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,760 water ice cap, and surrounding planes 653 00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:03,960 is covered in a thick layer of dry ice. 654 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:06,200 But as the spring comes, 655 00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:08,160 things start getting a little bit interesting. 656 00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,640 As the sun returns the dry ice begins to melt. 657 00:55:18,720 --> 00:55:20,600 But it doesn't form a liquid. 658 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:22,040 It actually goes straight to gas. 659 00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,480 So you start building up pressure because you're making more gas, 660 00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:29,440 but trapping it inside of this ice layer. 661 00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:32,480 And so you're building up, building up, building up pressure 662 00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:35,840 until that one point where the pressure just increases so much 663 00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:37,760 that it just explodes. 664 00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:48,360 And that aftermath of that explosion are these dark streaks 665 00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:50,600 that we see on HiRISE images. 666 00:55:54,720 --> 00:55:59,720 NARRATOR: Carved into the surface by exploding jets of carbon dioxide, 667 00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:05,600 each one of these strange spider formations 668 00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,200 took 10,000 years to form. 669 00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:20,240 And it's the same force, carbon dioxide, 670 00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,720 changing from gas to dry ice to gas 671 00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:27,400 that makes Mars' poles 672 00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:30,360 so beautiful and bizarre. 673 00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:35,080 They're both completely alien landscapes. 674 00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:37,160 And it's quintessential Mars. 675 00:56:37,240 --> 00:56:39,280 It's alien Mars. 676 00:56:43,520 --> 00:56:45,600 NARRATOR: Exploding poles. 677 00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,080 Scarred frozen planes. 678 00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:56,360 A planet stripped of its atmosphere 679 00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:58,400 and blasted by solar winds. 680 00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:05,000 The idea that Mars could ever support life might seem hopeless. 681 00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:13,520 But we now know that billions of years ago, 682 00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:16,880 when the first life forms appeared on Earth, 683 00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:22,480 the two planets were much more alike. 684 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:28,680 And if life emerged on our world, 685 00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:30,880 why not here? 686 00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:36,840 (beeping) 687 00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:44,560 NARRATOR: As afternoon turns to evening, 688 00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:47,360 we head towards the Marian Equator. 689 00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:51,440 To a place where since 2012, 690 00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:55,240 NASA has been on an audacious mission. 691 00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:59,160 In Gale Crater right now, 692 00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:04,120 a high-tech Rover is hunting for the very ingredients of life. 693 00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:09,200 -MAN (indistinct over PA) - (cheering) 694 00:58:11,240 --> 00:58:12,920 ASHWIN: The night that we landed 695 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,640 I saw my engineering colleagues across the room, 696 00:58:15,720 --> 00:58:17,400 jump up and down in their chairs. 697 00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:19,360 And you know some of them begin to cry. 698 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:22,480 And for me of course, I felt all those same emotions. 699 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:24,920 But then it, all of a sudden it hit me that now there gonna 700 00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:28,280 give us the car keys and it's really up to us as scientists 701 00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:30,560 to fulfill the promise of the whole mission. 702 00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:36,880 NARRATOR: Three and a half billion years ago 703 00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:39,640 Gale Crater was filled with water. 704 00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:45,040 Today it's a dried-up lake bed. 705 00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:49,240 But it conceals clues 706 00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:52,440 to just how habitable Mars might have once been. 707 00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:03,720 Combing its surface is a one ton mobile science lab. 708 00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,720 The only Rover at work on Mars today... 709 00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:14,560 NASA's Curiosity. 710 00:59:22,720 --> 00:59:24,640 DIANA: Curiosity's an incredible rover. 711 00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:28,320 It is an SUV size, laser beam eye robot 712 00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:32,320 that is going around Mars, trying to figure out 713 00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:35,560 if there was the environment to sustain life at some point. 714 00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:37,880 When I describe it that way it just sounds like 715 00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:40,920 I am talking about science fiction. 716 00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:47,040 MELISSA: Curiosity is a huge beast of a rover. 717 00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:50,320 Six-wheel drive, stands seven feet tall. 718 00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:57,520 She's powered by plutonium that gives her a quantum energy source. 719 00:59:57,600 --> 00:59:59,840 She can run for years. 720 01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:04,920 Dust storms that kill rovers don't touch Curiosity. 721 01:00:12,240 --> 01:00:14,040 GRUNSFELD: Curiosity is so big 722 01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:17,760 that we can see it with HiRISE in great detail. 723 01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:21,080 We can see the body, we can see the wheels, 724 01:00:21,160 --> 01:00:22,920 we can see the wheel tracks. 725 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:30,560 NARRATOR: Alongside its serious science kit, 726 01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:35,360 Curiosity has no fewer than 17 cameras. 727 01:00:38,320 --> 01:00:40,600 It can even take selfies. 728 01:00:41,240 --> 01:00:42,720 ASHWIN: We designed these rovers 729 01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:45,680 to act like our human surrogates on Mars. 730 01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:49,560 They have eyes that are about six feet off the ground 731 01:00:51,560 --> 01:00:55,360 and they take color pictures that have the same wavelengths as our human eyes. 732 01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:59,800 All this is designed to put a human virtual presence on Mars. 733 01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:06,000 NARRATOR: Using half a million images taken by Curiosity and Mars' orbiter's 734 01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:11,280 NASA has rebuilt Gale Crater... 735 01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:16,720 on earth. 736 01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:21,320 DAWN: I feel like I have been on the surface of Mars. 737 01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:25,400 The images and the topography 738 01:01:25,480 --> 01:01:29,520 fills your mind and you get lost in this virtual world. 739 01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:35,280 It's just so interesting to actually use data 740 01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:38,840 to transport yourself into another environment, 741 01:01:38,920 --> 01:01:40,240 onto another planet. 742 01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:43,840 NARRATOR: But this isn't just for fun. 743 01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:48,800 Curiosity is far more than a mobile camera. 744 01:01:50,560 --> 01:01:52,720 Dawn uses the virtual world... 745 01:01:55,400 --> 01:01:58,280 to choose the most promising places for the rover 746 01:01:58,360 --> 01:02:00,400 to deploy its high-tech toolkit. 747 01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:05,560 At its heart Curiosity is a chemical laboratory 748 01:02:05,640 --> 01:02:07,520 that we've landed on the surface of Mars. 749 01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:09,720 She's got a laser ablation spectrometer, 750 01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:11,800 which is a laser to zap rocks. 751 01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:13,720 You know, we can drive round and say, wow, 752 01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:18,160 that looks interesting, 'zu', 'pu', what's in there? 753 01:02:18,800 --> 01:02:22,840 And what that allows us to do is to see what Mars is made of. 754 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,960 DAWN: Curiosity is designed to take the powder and heat it up 755 01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:33,680 and then it smells the chemicals that--that come off 756 01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:37,400 and those chemicals will say something about what's inside the sample. 757 01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:41,560 It doesn't tell us everything we want 758 01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:44,160 to know but it gives us some really nice clues. 759 01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:50,440 NARRATOR: In 2014, Curiosity astonished the world 760 01:02:51,600 --> 01:02:53,680 with the biggest breakthrough yet, 761 01:02:56,080 --> 01:02:59,280 in our search for extra-terrestrial life. 762 01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:06,000 What we found was organic molecules in mud stones. 763 01:03:09,400 --> 01:03:13,520 NARRATOR: Organic molecules are complex molecules containing carbon, 764 01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:19,080 the ingredients that make up all life on earth. 765 01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:25,960 JAMES: Those molecules are clues. 766 01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:29,160 We can't quite decipher exactly where they came from 767 01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:32,600 but they're so hopeful that there could be 768 01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:35,400 part of the record of what might have been ancient life on Mars. 769 01:03:40,560 --> 01:03:44,960 The biggest overall find is that Mars was a habitable planet 770 01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:50,120 and we didn't know that before Curiosity went there. 771 01:03:54,920 --> 01:03:56,200 NARRATOR: Water on the surface, 772 01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:02,680 organic molecules in the rocks. 773 01:04:05,440 --> 01:04:09,560 For at least a billion years Mars had everything 774 01:04:09,640 --> 01:04:11,360 life needs to get started 775 01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:18,360 and yet the final proof remains just out of reach. 776 01:04:20,520 --> 01:04:23,720 ASHWIN: What we have not found is that life ever took hold, 777 01:04:24,080 --> 01:04:27,200 ever made use those great conditions that Mars provided. 778 01:04:29,720 --> 01:04:34,400 NARRATOR: So strong is our desire to find that life on another planet 779 01:04:37,320 --> 01:04:39,560 that we have overreached before. 780 01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:47,000 The experts are saying tonight 781 01:04:47,080 --> 01:04:48,160 that they have, quote, 782 01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:52,400 "reasonable evidence of past life on the planet Mars." 783 01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:54,320 NARRATOR: In 1996, 784 01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:56,600 NASA shocked the world. 785 01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:02,600 Inside a meteorite from Mars, found in Antarctica, 786 01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:06,160 they discovered bacteria shaped structures. 787 01:05:06,640 --> 01:05:08,280 While the evidence may be 788 01:05:08,360 --> 01:05:11,480 just microscopic and perhaps millions of years old, 789 01:05:11,560 --> 01:05:15,160 today they displayed the rock that has rolled back years of findings 790 01:05:15,240 --> 01:05:17,560 and has made science fiction a reality. 791 01:05:18,800 --> 01:05:20,400 NARRATOR: The whole world was asking, 792 01:05:21,080 --> 01:05:23,520 was this really life from Mars? 793 01:05:24,360 --> 01:05:26,760 If this discovery is confirmed 794 01:05:27,400 --> 01:05:30,600 it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe 795 01:05:30,680 --> 01:05:32,840 that science has ever uncovered. 796 01:05:35,440 --> 01:05:38,240 NARRATOR: But the dream soon began to fracture. 797 01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:41,160 People started interrogating and then doubting. 798 01:05:41,240 --> 01:05:44,040 It was so hard to prove the morphology, 799 01:05:44,120 --> 01:05:46,120 the shape of what we thought we were seeing 800 01:05:46,200 --> 01:05:47,240 was actually made by life. 801 01:05:50,600 --> 01:05:53,920 AMY: This isn't something obvious like digging up a dinosaur skull. 802 01:05:54,320 --> 01:05:57,920 This is a microscopic bacteria billions of years old. 803 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,640 We don't know what this is. 804 01:06:01,200 --> 01:06:05,280 NARRATOR: The strangest puzzle was the size of the shapes in the rock, 805 01:06:06,320 --> 01:06:09,480 smaller than any life ever recorded on earth, 806 01:06:10,480 --> 01:06:13,800 smaller than life could ever exist 807 01:06:15,680 --> 01:06:17,960 or so we thought. 808 01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:28,120 (intense music playing) 809 01:06:32,840 --> 01:06:35,120 NARRATOR: Today, one scientist's work 810 01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:39,080 is making us rethink the search for life on Mars. 811 01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:53,360 (intense music playing) 812 01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:01,360 This is Dalol, Ethiopia, 813 01:07:04,800 --> 01:07:07,560 one of the most hostile places on earth. 814 01:07:11,600 --> 01:07:13,920 Here, volcanic forces 815 01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:17,920 create conditions very similar to those on ancient Mars... 816 01:07:22,160 --> 01:07:25,080 and that attracts astrobiologists 817 01:07:25,160 --> 01:07:27,360 like Felipe Gómez Gómez. 818 01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:37,840 FELIPE: There is a heavy smell in the air. 819 01:07:39,960 --> 01:07:42,720 The water coming out from the chimneys 820 01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:47,440 can be higher than one hundred degree Celsius. 821 01:07:49,880 --> 01:07:53,920 Salinity, it's practically saturated in salt. 822 01:07:57,960 --> 01:07:59,240 The water pH 823 01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:02,800 is more acidic than a car battery. 824 01:08:10,960 --> 01:08:14,840 Early Mars was quite similar to this kind of environment. 825 01:08:17,360 --> 01:08:18,960 MAN 2: You don't want to put your hands into that. 826 01:08:19,760 --> 01:08:22,840 No, it would be burned. 827 01:08:22,920 --> 01:08:24,080 Yeah, I know. 828 01:08:28,200 --> 01:08:30,520 NARRATOR: Inside these samples, 829 01:08:31,440 --> 01:08:35,120 Felipe has uncovered something no one was expecting. 830 01:08:39,520 --> 01:08:43,360 (speaking in native language) 831 01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:54,080 (speaking in native language) 832 01:08:58,000 --> 01:08:59,280 These are microbes? 833 01:08:59,360 --> 01:09:01,160 Yup. The bacteria. 834 01:09:04,120 --> 01:09:06,760 These were found in Dallol, in the pools of Dallol. 835 01:09:07,320 --> 01:09:08,360 Wow. 836 01:09:08,440 --> 01:09:10,720 Living inside the salt, interacting with the salt. 837 01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:14,040 Multiplying themselves and colonizing 838 01:09:14,120 --> 01:09:15,960 this really extreme environment. 839 01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:18,760 So you are telling me these things are alive? 840 01:09:18,840 --> 01:09:21,160 They are not fossils of bacteria? 841 01:09:21,240 --> 01:09:23,240 Exactly, they are bacteria and they are alive. 842 01:09:23,320 --> 01:09:24,320 They are growing. 843 01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:28,560 NARRATOR: The very things that make this environment 844 01:09:28,640 --> 01:09:30,760 so dangerous to us 845 01:09:30,840 --> 01:09:32,280 make it perfect 846 01:09:32,360 --> 01:09:36,240 for primitive lifeforms to get started. 847 01:09:39,480 --> 01:09:40,680 So they eat the salt? 848 01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:41,760 They eat the salt. 849 01:09:41,840 --> 01:09:46,600 They are able to take the energy, the power supply from the minerals. 850 01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:49,840 NARRATOR: But the breakthrough 851 01:09:49,920 --> 01:09:54,560 isn't just that bacteria exist, it's also their size. 852 01:09:54,920 --> 01:09:58,320 They are twenty times smaller than the regular bacteria. 853 01:09:58,400 --> 01:09:59,560 It's nanobacteria. 854 01:10:01,120 --> 01:10:04,360 NARRATOR: The bacteria are about the same size 855 01:10:04,440 --> 01:10:08,080 as the mysterious shapes found in the Antarctica meteorite. 856 01:10:10,680 --> 01:10:15,720 This extreme environment is like Mars was four billion years ago 857 01:10:15,800 --> 01:10:18,360 at a very early age of Mars. 858 01:10:18,440 --> 01:10:22,160 And if there is life here, who knows that probably 859 01:10:22,240 --> 01:10:25,240 could be possible to find similar life on Mars. 860 01:10:26,440 --> 01:10:27,720 (speaking in native language) 861 01:10:29,120 --> 01:10:31,960 NARRATOR: The discoveries of extreme life on earth 862 01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:35,680 have reignited our hope... 863 01:10:39,320 --> 01:10:42,240 of finding life on Mars 864 01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:47,880 and that's exactly what NASA's next mission will attempt to do-- 865 01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:52,400 Dig for alien fossils. 866 01:10:58,280 --> 01:10:59,720 (beeping) 867 01:11:07,200 --> 01:11:10,840 2,400 miles west of Gale Crater 868 01:11:10,920 --> 01:11:13,320 is the site targeted for the search. 869 01:11:17,160 --> 01:11:22,520 It will make Mars 2020 NASA's toughest mission yet. 870 01:11:29,600 --> 01:11:33,040 Jezero Crater is a rugged, cracked landscape, 871 01:11:33,920 --> 01:11:37,280 with jagged channels carved through the rock. 872 01:11:41,320 --> 01:11:45,840 Scientists now know this is the fossilized remains 873 01:11:45,920 --> 01:11:48,280 of a giant river delta. 874 01:11:56,960 --> 01:11:58,920 On ancient Mars 875 01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:04,000 this would have been the perfect place for life to thrive 876 01:12:06,360 --> 01:12:10,320 and Jezero also has the perfect conditions 877 01:12:10,400 --> 01:12:13,960 to preserve fossils of it to this day. 878 01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:21,080 MAN: Over time, sediment builds up, layer after layer. 879 01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:26,960 WOMAN: Any life forms present or organic molecules 880 01:12:27,040 --> 01:12:29,560 would have been concentrated in those layers of mud. 881 01:12:31,360 --> 01:12:35,080 It's a layer cake of stories in the record of the rocks. 882 01:12:37,680 --> 01:12:39,720 DAVID: Buried treasure that's been sitting there, 883 01:12:39,800 --> 01:12:41,480 waiting all these billions of years now 884 01:12:41,560 --> 01:12:44,080 for us to go and dig it up and see what's there. 885 01:12:46,800 --> 01:12:49,200 NARRATOR: But the best place for hunt for life 886 01:12:50,880 --> 01:12:53,400 is the toughest place to land 887 01:12:53,920 --> 01:12:56,400 and in February 2021 888 01:12:56,720 --> 01:13:00,800 that's exactly what NASA will attempt to do. 889 01:13:01,800 --> 01:13:04,160 NAGIN: Of course, if it was entirely up to the engineers 890 01:13:04,240 --> 01:13:07,000 we would pick a completely flat place with no rocks 891 01:13:07,080 --> 01:13:10,160 and no winds and the scientists would immediately say, 892 01:13:10,240 --> 01:13:11,240 well that's super boring. 893 01:13:13,080 --> 01:13:15,440 ADAM: This mission, it's a big deal. 894 01:13:16,680 --> 01:13:19,680 It's the most ambitious mission we've ever attempted, 895 01:13:20,880 --> 01:13:25,440 so for 2020 we will take the rover and put it in places 896 01:13:25,520 --> 01:13:28,440 that would be unthinkable for Curiosity 897 01:13:28,520 --> 01:13:31,440 or the airbag landings of history. 898 01:13:34,640 --> 01:13:37,120 NARRATOR: Unlike on previous missions, 899 01:13:37,200 --> 01:13:42,560 this landing site will be full of rover killing hazards. 900 01:13:44,000 --> 01:13:47,160 But NASA has a new trick up its sleeve. 901 01:13:57,760 --> 01:14:01,920 NARRATOR: Every mission to Mars has faced one huge problem. 902 01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:06,720 It takes 20 minutes to get a signal back to earth. 903 01:14:10,280 --> 01:14:14,880 So engineers can't guide the spacecraft from their control room. 904 01:14:17,520 --> 01:14:21,400 But Mars 2020 will have a super power. 905 01:14:25,080 --> 01:14:28,760 It will be able to navigate itself. 906 01:14:30,760 --> 01:14:33,120 ADAM: For Mars 2020 we took the landing system 907 01:14:33,200 --> 01:14:38,440 that we'd used on Curiosity and we added a very important feature, 908 01:14:39,520 --> 01:14:44,160 an ability to tell where it is on Mars. 909 01:14:45,680 --> 01:14:46,840 NARRATOR: For this mission, 910 01:14:47,320 --> 01:14:50,640 the engineers from NASA's jet propulsion laboratory 911 01:14:50,720 --> 01:14:53,440 have harnessed the power of HiRISE. 912 01:14:55,520 --> 01:14:59,800 They have used its images to build a map of the landing site 913 01:14:59,880 --> 01:15:01,880 in incredible detail. 914 01:15:04,520 --> 01:15:08,840 We've used HiRISE to help us understand the dangers 915 01:15:08,920 --> 01:15:11,120 that the terrain might provide. 916 01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:17,320 NARRATOR: Mars 2020 917 01:15:17,920 --> 01:15:21,360 will compare the map with what it sees on the ground. 918 01:15:34,160 --> 01:15:37,600 Then it will zero in on its target. 919 01:15:47,880 --> 01:15:53,120 Retro rockets will guide this $2.5 billion rover 920 01:15:55,520 --> 01:15:57,760 safely to the surface. 921 01:16:05,560 --> 01:16:07,520 (whirring) 922 01:16:42,600 --> 01:16:47,400 Once on the ground Mars 2020 will carry out its simple 923 01:16:47,480 --> 01:16:49,920 but awe-inspiring task, 924 01:16:53,480 --> 01:16:56,520 to burrow into the planet's surface, 925 01:16:56,600 --> 01:17:00,080 searching for fossils of Martian life. 926 01:17:05,840 --> 01:17:08,600 DIANA: Is there life or was there life on the surface of Mars? 927 01:17:08,680 --> 01:17:11,600 It can't get more fundamental than that. 928 01:17:11,680 --> 01:17:15,080 I can't imagine a Mars that wasn't alive in some way. 929 01:17:15,160 --> 01:17:17,480 If Mars 2020 can answer that question 930 01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:21,480 I think that we can drop the mic at JPL and just walk out of the lab 931 01:17:21,560 --> 01:17:25,240 because we had just answered the most fundamental question of human history. 932 01:17:31,880 --> 01:17:35,640 NARRATOR: As these robot pioneers hunt for life on Mars, 933 01:17:40,800 --> 01:17:44,160 we are laying the groundwork for the next great challenge-- 934 01:17:46,800 --> 01:17:50,480 sending human pioneers to join them. 935 01:17:51,560 --> 01:17:53,560 BRIDENSTEIN (over PA): The moon is the proving ground, 936 01:17:53,640 --> 01:17:55,400 Mars is the horizon goal. 937 01:17:56,600 --> 01:17:57,880 WOMAN (over radio): We have ignition of 938 01:17:57,960 --> 01:18:00,600 NASA's space launch system solid rocket motor, 939 01:18:00,680 --> 01:18:02,520 powering us on our journey to Mars. 940 01:18:04,480 --> 01:18:07,920 NARRATOR: Engineers are racing to develop the technology. 941 01:18:08,800 --> 01:18:09,960 ELON (over PA): Do you want the future 942 01:18:10,040 --> 01:18:11,840 where we become a space faring civilization 943 01:18:11,920 --> 01:18:13,200 and are out there among the stars 944 01:18:13,280 --> 01:18:15,520 or one where we are forever confined to earth? 945 01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:29,480 Space exploration, a tough but not impossible thing. 946 01:18:32,320 --> 01:18:34,800 NARRATOR: The first humans who will set foot on Mars 947 01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:36,520 are already among us. 948 01:18:37,000 --> 01:18:39,320 MAN: We intend to send her to Mars one day, folks. 949 01:18:55,000 --> 01:18:57,440 NARRATOR: But this mission will be together than anything 950 01:18:57,520 --> 01:18:58,920 we've ever attempted. 951 01:19:01,960 --> 01:19:03,960 There are two giant hurdles. 952 01:19:05,440 --> 01:19:08,400 First, you have to get there. 953 01:19:12,000 --> 01:19:13,960 There's really no shortage of challenges 954 01:19:14,040 --> 01:19:17,240 when it comes to getting humans to Mars, (stammers) not on Mars, 955 01:19:17,320 --> 01:19:18,640 just to Mars. 956 01:19:20,360 --> 01:19:22,160 ADAM: The navigation is hard. 957 01:19:22,560 --> 01:19:25,240 A little bit off and you will burn up because 958 01:19:25,320 --> 01:19:27,080 you're coming in too steep and then come in too shallow 959 01:19:27,160 --> 01:19:29,440 you'll skip off into the solar system 960 01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:32,320 and orbit the sun forever and be dead. 961 01:19:35,480 --> 01:19:38,480 LUJENDRA: It takes about seven months to get to Mars. 962 01:19:38,840 --> 01:19:42,080 Once you get on Mars you have to be there for two more years 963 01:19:42,160 --> 01:19:44,520 before you can take the return flight back to earth. 964 01:19:45,880 --> 01:19:48,920 WOMAN: You're going to have a kind of cabin fever 965 01:19:49,000 --> 01:19:50,640 that's--that's unprecedented. 966 01:19:52,920 --> 01:19:55,080 NARRATOR: When you finally arrive on the planet 967 01:19:55,160 --> 01:19:59,200 you have to survive in terrifying conditions. 968 01:20:04,240 --> 01:20:05,760 Unbreathable air, 969 01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:12,440 extreme cold, toxic dust. 970 01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:23,080 And an unseen danger that even spacesuits offer 971 01:20:23,160 --> 01:20:24,960 little protect against. 972 01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:29,000 Deadly radiation. 973 01:20:36,440 --> 01:20:38,600 It seems an impossible problem. 974 01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:44,600 But the planet also offers a solution. 975 01:20:48,080 --> 01:20:50,480 (beeping) 976 01:20:55,960 --> 01:20:59,600 NARRATOR: Just 350 miles west of Jezero Crater, 977 01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:03,320 where Mars 2020 will hunt for alien life, 978 01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:06,280 we return to Syrtis Major, 979 01:21:06,360 --> 01:21:09,160 where we first thought we saw it. 980 01:21:11,480 --> 01:21:14,800 And here, where our journey began, 981 01:21:14,880 --> 01:21:20,480 we find the key to living on Mars... ourselves. 982 01:21:25,840 --> 01:21:27,440 DAVID: Every once in a while, we come across one of these 983 01:21:27,520 --> 01:21:31,720 sort of strange snaky, snake like forms. 984 01:21:33,680 --> 01:21:37,120 And this is in terrain that's incredibly flat, 985 01:21:37,200 --> 01:21:38,440 highly cratered. 986 01:21:41,000 --> 01:21:43,440 We're pretty sure these features are lava tubes. 987 01:21:46,160 --> 01:21:48,120 NINA: Lava tubes form near volcanoes 988 01:21:48,200 --> 01:21:50,720 as lava is flowing out through fractures. 989 01:21:51,760 --> 01:21:53,840 TANYA: And eventually that kinda drains out 990 01:21:53,920 --> 01:21:56,000 and it leaves these caverns behind. 991 01:21:57,680 --> 01:22:01,640 ABIGAIL: Sometimes we can see holes punch through these features 992 01:22:01,720 --> 01:22:03,480 and these are dark holes 993 01:22:03,560 --> 01:22:06,280 and when you look down you just see darkness. 994 01:22:10,640 --> 01:22:14,280 NARRATOR: No human invention has yet cracked the radiation problem. 995 01:22:17,840 --> 01:22:23,160 But these underground wonders might just be our salvation. 996 01:22:54,080 --> 01:22:56,480 Deep in the mountains of northern Spain 997 01:22:57,840 --> 01:23:01,960 a team of scientists is exploring how we might survive 998 01:23:02,040 --> 01:23:04,280 in Mars' lethal environment. 999 01:23:06,120 --> 01:23:08,040 JOSÉ: I believe what we're going to do on Mars 1000 01:23:08,120 --> 01:23:09,600 will be incredible. 1001 01:23:11,400 --> 01:23:12,720 But it is not easy. 1002 01:23:12,800 --> 01:23:14,560 We evolved on planet Earth 1003 01:23:14,640 --> 01:23:18,040 and our biology is accustomed to this planet. 1004 01:23:19,280 --> 01:23:21,640 CARMEN: If you would live on Mars for longer time, 1005 01:23:21,720 --> 01:23:23,080 even wearing the spacesuit, 1006 01:23:23,160 --> 01:23:24,760 the radiation would definitely be deadly. 1007 01:23:28,440 --> 01:23:31,360 We need to go underground and obviously 1008 01:23:31,440 --> 01:23:32,720 the deeper we are 1009 01:23:32,800 --> 01:23:35,800 the more protection we will have from radiation. 1010 01:23:41,240 --> 01:23:43,280 Some of these caves are really, really long. 1011 01:23:43,360 --> 01:23:45,280 They could be several kilometers long, 1012 01:23:45,360 --> 01:23:50,280 so we could go deeper and deeper and create a habitat for us to live. 1013 01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:56,040 NARRATOR: Here, in its own version of a Martian lava tube, 1014 01:23:56,680 --> 01:24:00,560 the team can find out what this subterranean life 1015 01:24:00,640 --> 01:24:02,040 might be like. 1016 01:24:02,840 --> 01:24:05,800 You lose track of time really because 1017 01:24:05,880 --> 01:24:07,360 you don't have any day or night. 1018 01:24:08,720 --> 01:24:10,480 You're in a confined environment, 1019 01:24:10,560 --> 01:24:12,800 in an extreme environment, 1020 01:24:12,880 --> 01:24:14,520 which makes it very challenging. 1021 01:24:15,840 --> 01:24:18,720 We need to be independent in every way, 1022 01:24:18,800 --> 01:24:21,080 not just psychologically independent 1023 01:24:21,160 --> 01:24:25,640 but in terms of food, materials, resources, energy. 1024 01:24:28,720 --> 01:24:31,640 This would be our home on planet Mars 1025 01:24:31,720 --> 01:24:35,720 and we need to create an environment for us to survive and to thrive. 1026 01:24:38,800 --> 01:24:42,400 NARRATOR: Lava tubes will provide a readymade shelter 1027 01:24:42,480 --> 01:24:44,760 for the first intrepid pioneers. 1028 01:24:47,800 --> 01:24:49,320 And experts believe 1029 01:24:49,400 --> 01:24:52,760 they could also be sites for longer term settlements. 1030 01:24:54,320 --> 01:24:58,960 Some may even be large enough to fit whole cities inside. 1031 01:25:07,120 --> 01:25:12,200 JOSÉ: We live between the last human single planetary generation 1032 01:25:12,280 --> 01:25:15,720 and the first multi planetary generation. 1033 01:25:16,280 --> 01:25:20,040 Once we colonize Mars we will change history, 1034 01:25:20,120 --> 01:25:21,880 we will change the future. 1035 01:25:24,680 --> 01:25:28,240 NARRATOR: And it may be, in these lava tubes, 1036 01:25:28,320 --> 01:25:32,920 that the quest that has driven our interest in Mars for centuries 1037 01:25:33,000 --> 01:25:35,760 finally comes to an end. 1038 01:25:36,560 --> 01:25:40,160 Those same conditions that will keep us safe underground 1039 01:25:41,040 --> 01:25:44,280 might, for billions of years, 1040 01:25:44,360 --> 01:25:47,400 have kept something else safe too, 1041 01:25:48,560 --> 01:25:50,360 living Martian life. 1042 01:25:52,400 --> 01:25:56,240 DAVID: Because of the tremendous radiation bathing the surface 1043 01:25:56,320 --> 01:25:58,960 any lifeforms that are there today 1044 01:25:59,040 --> 01:26:01,080 are gonna be buried under the surface. 1045 01:26:01,160 --> 01:26:05,120 This is a whole new place for us to explore on Mars 1046 01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:06,920 and, in particular, it's one of those places 1047 01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:10,280 that seems like it could be a really good habitat 1048 01:26:10,360 --> 01:26:13,080 for any extant Martian life, should it exist. 1049 01:26:25,480 --> 01:26:28,240 NARRATOR: Our day on Mars is coming to a close. 1050 01:26:38,240 --> 01:26:41,880 The sun is setting over the dunes of Syrtis Major. 1051 01:26:44,840 --> 01:26:48,880 Once this place made us dream of an earth like world, 1052 01:26:51,040 --> 01:26:54,320 but our journey has revealed Mars' story to be 1053 01:26:54,400 --> 01:26:57,280 more astonishing than anything we could have imagined. 1054 01:26:59,360 --> 01:27:04,520 And now, at last, it's almost within our reach. 1055 01:27:12,960 --> 01:27:14,760 NINA: Mars is like my second home. 1056 01:27:16,200 --> 01:27:17,360 I would love to go visit. 1057 01:27:21,480 --> 01:27:22,640 It is magnificent. 1058 01:27:26,160 --> 01:27:27,680 (explosion) 1059 01:27:35,520 --> 01:27:39,080 ADAM: I used to dream about being the first person to climb Olympus Mons, 1060 01:27:40,560 --> 01:27:42,880 the biggest mountain in the solar system, 1061 01:27:42,960 --> 01:27:44,480 plant the flag on top. 1062 01:27:46,080 --> 01:27:49,720 DERRICK: Mars makes us redefine who we are 1063 01:27:50,600 --> 01:27:53,640 and what are connection is to the universe. 1064 01:27:54,800 --> 01:27:57,680 JAMES: Would I go? Of course, in a heartbeat. 87607

Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.