All language subtitles for The.Mightiest.S03E01.Impossible.Machines.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-RAWR_track4_[eng]

Some machines are made to work,

but others, the most impossible
machines in the world,

change the way things work.

Carving new paths,
a one-of-a-kind plane.

No one else has tried to build
an aircraft like this before.

A gravity-defying funicular

and an exceptional telescope.

Machines designed
for a special purpose,

surpassing all expectation.

Ready? Now.

Deep in the Mojave Desert,

a remote facility is buzzing
with activity.

This is Stratolaunch, an
aerospace company on a mission

to design, manufacture
and launch

air and space vehicles
into orbit.

MAN
Good ignition. Good ignition.

It's home to the largest

fixed-wing aircraft
in the world,

a one-of-a-kind icon
of the air.

Meet the Roc.

You cannot take your eyes
off it.

It dominates the landscape.

It's just so large, and
you can't even imagine its scale

until you're sitting out

in front of it on the runway.

Your eyes

are not deceiving you.

This plane has not one,
but two bodies,

and attached to them is a wing

that's as long as
a football field.

When you contrast
the Roc's wingspan

to other large aircraft,

it totally dwarfs them in size.

Its wingspan is nearly 49 metres
wider than a Boeing 747.

It's 50 metres wider than
the air force's largest plane,

the C-5 Galaxy.

And it takes 19 fighter jets
placed wingtip to wingtip

to equal the Roc's reach.

It's the biggest wing
in the world.

It's hard to imagine
that a giant like this

could ever be built,

let alone be able to take off
and fly.

But that gigantic wing serves
a gigantic purpose.

A wing that's this high
and straight and long

combined with
two underslung fuselages,

it's optimized for maximum lift.

That means the aircraft
can take off while carrying

unbelievably heavy loads.

To take,
you know, something this massive

and then, you know,
put it in flight,

it's kind of magical.

The continuous wing is designed

not for
what its two bodies hold,

but for what's between.

The Roc was named after
a mythological flying bird,

and it was known for
carrying elephants.

And so, that's very analogous
to exactly what Roc is:

basically carrying very large,
heavy objects,

which is exactly its purpose,

and why it's such
a unique aircraft.

Like a mama bat
carries its pups in flight,

the Roc transports vehicles
into the air

from the underside
of its enormous wing,

nestled between its two bottoms.

And the Roc is capable

of lifting
incredibly heavy payloads.

Imagine a 500,000-pound rocket

strapped underneath the
centre wing of this aircraft,

dropping it at 35,000 feet,

launching that rocket
and carrying it up to orbit.

Booster rockets

like the Atlas or the Falcon

that launch satellites
into orbit

use incredible amounts of energy
to escape Earth's gravity.

Typically, more than 90% of
a rocket's total weight is fuel.

The space shuttle
was an even greater burden,

demanding even bigger boosters.

All these missions
had to take place

on enormous launch sites,
like Cape Canaveral

and the Kennedy Space Center.

That's where
the Roc is different.

It has reimagined the concept
of the rocket launch.

Rockets at launch site
are typically constrained

to that geographic location.

So, they're stuck to that pad
or that space,

where they have
to take off from.

An air-launch platform like Roc
is unique,

because we can take off from
here in Mojave this morning,

but we could get out
to any location

and drop a very large payload
or a very large rocket.

The Roc can effectively turn
any tarmac

into a shuttle launchpad.

No need for NASA.

As long as you have
a large-enough runway,

the Roc can do its thing and
launch rockets from anywhere.

The team of engineers,

test pilots and crew
at Stratolaunch

are continuously pushing
the boundaries of aviation.

It's been that way
from the start.

They utterly reimagined
aircraft.

A plane with two bodies
that will haul rockets

to the edge of space

was conceived in 2010
as just a sketch on a napkin.

Initially, the Roc was designed

to carry large payloads
and satellites into orbit,

but that evolved into the flight
testing of hypersonic vehicles,

launching an eight-year journey
into the stratosphere.

Building one of the biggest
aircraft in the world

meant they needed
a really big hangar.

The result was the
30,000-square-metre facility

at the Mojave
Air and Space Port.

Things moved quickly,

with construction
getting underway in 2011.

By using surplus aircraft
and off-the-shelf parts

whenever possible,

they were able to expedite
the process,

because they could be designing
and building as they went along.

Design and build
were done in parallel.

They didn't have to start
from scratch.

All of the guts
and the components inside

that make the aircraft function,

all were taken from
two existing 747 aircraft.

We took
all those 747 components,

the living, breathing systems.

We designed them into
this new airframe structure,

and we made the aircraft
come alive here in Mojave.

The Roc aircraft was designed

with two fuselages
spread far apart.

It allows a very large space,
such that

we can carry these payloads
up to 500,000 pounds.

So, they look identical.

Only the right one has
a cockpit.

It's largely preserved
from one of the scrapped 747s.

You've got bits like
the throttles, the foot pedal,

even some of the old
analog displays.

It's a bit strange-looking,

but having twin bodies
provides balance and stability

for that very large wingspan.

Legacy components were married

to state-of-the-art ones.

It's the jumbo jet, reborn.

The structure of the plane,

the bones that hold it
all together, had to be new.

And it's made of
some of the largest

composite components ever built
in the world,

and they were made by hand
by fabricators onsite.

This is an aircraft
formed from a wild imagination

to carry two fuselages, tons
of fuel and six jet engines,

not to mention
the other aircraft

or rocket it would carry.

It had to be strong
just to get off the ground.

It's a pretty bold idea.

No one else has tried to build

an aircraft like this before

just because of
the sheer undertaking.

There comes a point
in every test program

where you do
all the design work,

and you do all your work
on the computer

and you do all
the ground testing in the world.

But that day comes that you
just-- You just have to go fly.

And so, that day came
April 13th, 2019.

It was a huge day.

We all came out

and saw an amazing moment:

the world's largest aircraft
take off

from Mojave Air and Space Port.

The Roc is rated
for a maximum takeoff weight

of nearly 600 tons.

Getting that much weight
into the air

requires a lot of engines.

Roc has not one, not two,

but six engines.

We can't move the aircraft
without the engines,

so we got three on either wing.

These are
our Pratt & Whitney 4056s.

Put out a lot of thrust.

We need a lot of thrust
to lift this airplane.

This is the most thrust that any
aircraft has ever flown with.

It's got 56,000 pounds
of thrust

from each of those six engines.

Because the aircraft,

made up of two planes,
is so heavy,

the thrust coming from
its six engines simultaneously

is essential.

When you kick in all six
engines, it's fairly quick.

It gives you a little bit of
a kick in the pants,

and then it starts just bouncing
all over the place.

It starts getting very dynamic.

Think of it like letting go of
an inflated balloon.

The air rushing out the back

causes the balloon
to move forward.

The heavier the aircraft,
the more thrust is needed

to overcome its weight and drag.

The gleaming exterior
of the plane might be quite new,

but the engines themselves
are getting their second chance.

They're a little bit
older engines,

so these engines have
a lot of hours on them.

But yeah. They still work
really well for us.

These jumbo vets

are not ready for
the scrapyard yet,

but they demand more inspection

to ensure they're ready
for takeoff.

Engine inspection's

one of the first and last things
we do.

Constantly doing work
on these guys. Making sure

everything looks good. Making
sure everything runs well.

We do maintenance on them
constantly.

It's not just the engines

that are meticulously checked.

Every inch of the aircraft
is inspected

to ensure a successful launch.

We're going to start doing
the power-on checks.

Primarily,
we move the aircraft axes.

Make sure the runners,
the ailerons, elevators

are all moving
the way they're supposed to.

Flight systems
pressure looks good.

By the time we're done with
our testing,

we'll check all 14 flaps,
all 12 ailerons

with four elevators,
four runners, 24 brakes.

And we've checked all of that

for us to be ready to go fly
tomorrow.

The Roc was designed to bridge

the gravity gap between
the ground and space,

providing a launchpad
to earth orbit.

Now, it has a new passenger:

a machine designed not
for space,

but for speeds
that were once unimaginable

in Earth's atmosphere.
Forget supersonic.

These are hypersonic.

Hypersonic vehicles can travel

at a velocity greater than
Mach 5.

That's five times
the speed of sound.

It can revolutionize military
and civilian transportation

by providing unprecedented speed
and manoeuvrability.

That's unbelievably fast.

A trip from New York City
to Los Angeles at Mach 5?

That'd take you 30,
maybe 40 minutes.

For Stratolaunch,

this meant creating
their own hypersonic vehicles.

In 2016, 70 engineers

toiled over four years to design
the first operational model:

the Talon-A rocket.

The Stratolaunch team
uses the Talon

to conduct
high-speed experiments

for both military
and commercial applications.

It's being tested
to see how it holds up

to immense heat-generating,
hypersonic flight,

as well as testing for advanced
sensors, instrumentation

and guidance
and navigation systems.

So, Talon-A is a reusable
hypersonic test bed.

It's fully autonomous
and unmanned.

So, the Talon is preloaded
with a preflight trajectory,

and it's used to fly various
payloads and technologies.

Usually, rockets are expendable
vehicles that don't come back.

We've all seen rockets
that explode,

burn up in space
or crash into the ocean.

But what's amazing is
the Talon-A was designed as

a reusable rocket that can
fly mission after mission

and safely land back on
a runway.

MAN
Ready? Now.

The Talon-A is the result

of humanity's desire

to be the fastest thing
on the planet.

But even this hypersonic vehicle
needs a boost.

Talon-A is unable to take off
straight from the ground.

Air launch capability
is pretty simple.

You basically take
an aircraft,

and you take another aircraft

and you mount them to
each other.

You take off from
a conventional runway

and you get up to
a flying altitude.

And you drop that other aircraft
off of the Roc aircraft.

The Roc has a unique way

of cradling its precious cargo.

Right now, we are under the
wing of the Roc launch platform,

and right to the right of me
is our pylon system.

The pylon system is used
for connecting

the Talon-A vehicle
with the Roc,

and it is what allows us
to safely separate

when we're at high altitudes.

The pylon is a
specialized mounting structure

located on the centre wing,

and it's where
the hypersonic vehicles

are attached to the Roc.

The pylon has its own mini-wing

2.1 metres below
the bottom of the main wing.

This keeps the rocket
at a safe distance

when it's time to launch.

The pylon has
a series of winches

to load the hypersonic vehicle

onto its platform
from the ground.

The Talon is basically
hitching a ride

on the coolest plane
in the world.

This is what the Roc
was built to do.

Once the winches raise the Talon

up below the Roc's wing,

the vehicle is attached
to the pylon

at three different points
by a series of

explosive metal alloy bolts.

After takeoff, when the Roc
has reached 35,000 feet,

the flight engineer triggers
the detonation.

The explosive within the bolts
ignites cleanly,

breaking the connection
between the Talon and the pylon.

Once the Talon drops
from the Roc,

its rocket booster engine

shoots it across
the stratosphere.

And when it completes
its flight,

a navigation system operated
by master control

guides the Talon back down
to earth for its landing.

The Talon is the flash,

but the true MVP of the mission
is the Roc,

making all of this possible.

Today, the Roc
is running a test flight

to get it ready for its next
rocket-launching mission.

This airplane
is going to do something

that it has not done
in the history of its existence.

It's going to do a touch-and-go
for the first time.

It's going to be exciting.
Everybody's excited to do

anything with this airplane
for the first time.

A touch-and-go
is a training manoeuvre

where a pilot lands
an aircraft on a runway,

and then immediately
takes off again

without stopping
or exiting the runway.

Touch-and-goes are essential.

What it allows the pilot to do

is practise the two most
critical portions of a flight:

takeoff and landing.

This is going to be
its only 25th flight ever.

We're still kind of developing
the airplane.

So, it's kind of cool to do it
for the first time

and really feel like
you're a part of

the development of the airplane.

With only 25 flights

under that big wing,

there is no such thing
as routine.

Each mission is treated like
the first.

Every component is checked
and double-checked.

So, preflight check, you know,

we do a pretty thorough job.

There's a lot to check
in this giant airplane.

General overall integrity,
tires, overall servicing.

I'm kind of just looking over it
as kind of a final check.

The preflight check
isn't just for the airplane.

The tarmac is checked as well.

Something as small as
a stray screw on the runway

could be disastrous.

We're doing a FOD walk.

We're just picking up
any of the debris on the pad

that could cause issues,
get stuck in tires and stuff.

FOD prevention's
a big deal in aviation.

F-O-D is short for
"foreign object debris."

A FOD walk is a safety procedure
where ground crew

find and remove any objects

that could be dangerous
to the aircraft.

Even the smallest object
or debris on the tarmac

could be catastrophic
for the mission.

In 2000,
a piece of debris on the tarmac

punctured a tire
on the Air France Concorde.

After takeoff, pieces from
that tire struck the fuel tank,

resulting in a fire
and the plane crashing,

killing all 109 people on board.

That's why FOD checks
are so vital.

They ensure that
this one-of-a-kind aircraft

gets safely airborne.

I'm looking for any, like,
big rocks

or anything that could get
stuck in an aircraft tire.

Like, that's actually
what I'm looking for.

That's an aircraft fastener.

So, this could be off of
a panel.

it could be off of anything.

Somehow ended up on the ramp.

This is the kind of stuff
we're trying to prevent.

WOMAN
Final inspection is complete

and everything looks
really good. We're good to fly.

Once the FOD walk

and all the safety checks
are done, it's go time.

The plane is lined up
on the runway.

MAN
Test control,

you're cleared in,
nine-bravo.

All systems are go...

Parking brake is released.

- Are we ready to go?
- Ready.

...and the Roc
is cleared for takeoff,

ready for a short
but critical journey.

It's a cool feeling
as soon as you get airborne.

It's kind of like being in love.

It's just a good feeling.

Makes you feel
a little warm inside, I guess.

The pilots circle back
and line up with the runway.

With cool efficiency
and steady hands,

they manoeuvre the Roc
for multiple touch-and-goes.

PGA Kazulu, runway 26,

wind 2-1-0 at six,
cleared to land.

After a final
successful landing,

the Stratolaunch crew gives
itself a round of applause.

Another milestone
for this magnificent machine.

Test went very well today.

Nice and smooth.
We had no surprises.

Very successful,

and another one in the books
for Roc.

The Roc's
game-changing combination

of payload capacity

and support of hypersonic flight
is revolutionary

and has reshaped aviation.

I'm extremely excited
about the future of hypersonics.

There's so many different
applications out there,

and ways that we can use it
to better our society.

The Roc is one of the
mightiest machines ever flown,

pushing the boundaries of
aerospace design and technology.

What started as
a sketch on a napkin

has lifted aviation
to new heights,

and when this titan takes off,

it truly is
the impossible made possible.

The Stoosbahn funicular

is a one-of-a-kind scenic ride
in the Swiss Alps,

a unique vehicle
unlike any other on the planet,

whizzing passengers
up the steepest tracked incline

in the world.

It's the world record.

With jaw-dropping angles

and breathtaking mountain views,

it's a marvel
of gravity-defying engineering.

A funicular is
a cable-operated train system

that's designed to go
up and down

very steep hills and mountains.

Located in central Switzerland,

the funicular's job
is to carry passengers

from the valley town of Schwyz

up to the small mountain town
of Stoos.

This one-of-a-kind climb
of 744 metres to the very top

takes only seven minutes.

For a terrain this steep,

the funicular
is the best option.

The Stoosbahn
ascends up the mountain

in what seems like
a near vertical incline,

a 110% gradient.

That gradient is so steep

that if you tried to drive
a car up this, it would topple.

Pulling the two carriages
of the funicular

up and down the dizzying
mountain heights

takes a mighty engine
to handle the heavy load.

That's the main drive.
It's an electric engine.

This one have 1,000 kilowatts
power,

and we have two of them that
we can drive at the same time.

We need a lot of power

because of the steepness
from the funicular.

Each motor
produces enough energy

to simultaneously operate
250 escalators,

and these motors do it all
electrically.

The advantage of having
an electric engine

is it has a smaller footprint
than a large diesel engine.

It also means
greater efficiency.

It's more reliable, and
obviously, it's cleaner energy.

So, we're cutting down
on emissions.

A lot of people think that

because electric engines
are small and quiet,

they don't have a lot of power.
But don't be fooled.

They pack a ton of energy
and a ton of force

relative to their size,

especially compared to
internal combustion engines.

The motor's power
enables the movement of up to

1500 passengers per hour
in each direction.

A steep climb
demands more power.

This tourist attraction packs
a major traction.

We are looking
at two drag wheels

and the main rope.

The main rope
is fixed on both sides

from each train.

The cable is around three
and a half kilometres long.

It attaches the two trains

that we can move both
at the same time.

The large cable goes
from one train, up the mountain

and around a pulley system
attached to a huge wheel,

and then back down to
the other train.

That means that
as one goes up the slope,

the other one goes down.

Basically, each train acts as
a counterweight for the other.

The descending car's weight

helps pull the other one
up the mountain,

and it's all assisted
by the electric motors.

This funicular
travels a path so steep,

it needs a special kind
of passenger compartment.

Each car adjusts according
to the change in pitch.

Even when the ascent
is almost vertical,

passengers feel grounded.

We have an hydraulic system that
ensures that we're always level.

Each cabin
gets balanced out separately.

We have to rotate the cabin,

because we want to have
the level when we walk in.

Otherwise,
we all fell on one side.

Having the ability
to handle such a sheer climb

while keeping the funicular's
passengers upright

is all made possible because of
its innovative hydraulics.

Each cabin is equipped
with two hydraulic cylinders.

As the funicular travels along
the track, the cylinders respond

to the steep gradient
of the terrain.

They adjust simultaneously,

levelling the cabins
within the frame.

The hydraulics in sure that

whether you are going up or down
the track,

the cabin and its passengers
stay level at all times.

A level cabin is a big departure
from traditional funiculars,

which use fixed cars

that make boarding more
difficult on sloped platforms.

on the Stoosbahn, you can get in

without any barriers,
so it's more accessible.

When it comes to mountains,

getting up the hill
is all part of the fun.

But controlling the descent...

Is paramount.

Brakes are

the most important thing,

because when we have something
that's wrong or it's broken,

the funicular has to stop,

and this is our chance
to stop it.

If you're travelling vertical
up the side of a mountain,

the brakes better do their job.

And when it comes to brakes,

redundancy is
the name of the game.

You want as many fail-safes
in place as possible,

which is why the Stoosbahn is
equipped with multiple brakes.

We have here the safety brakes,

two on this side
and two on the other side.

It's like the last chance
that we can stop the funicular.

We need four of them
because on the steepest point,

we have to be sure that
we can always stop the ride.

One incredible thing
about the Stoosbahn

is that its regenerative
braking system

captures energy
and converts it into heat.

That heat is then used

by the rooms in the hotel
at the top of the mountain.

The Stoosbahn is
an essential means of transit,

but it's not the first funicular
to travel up this mountain.

The tiny village of Stoos

started as a settlement
for agriculture and farming,

but it gained popularity
in the early 1930s

as a popular skiing site.

But since Stoos is
a car-free village,

it was very difficult
to actually get to.

So, in 1933 the first funicular
opened, connecting Stoos

to the town
further down the mountain.

It was revolutionary
for its era,

the only funicular in the world

to feature
fully aluminum carriages.

In 1933, that was
cutting-edge technology,

since most early funiculars
used boxcars made out of wood.

The original Schwyz-Shoos
funicular had fixed cabins.

It operated for 84 years, but as
technology reached new heights,

what was cutting-edge
became obsolete.

For its time,

the original funicular did
an admirable job.

But like many pieces
of machinery,

it's out with the old,
in with the new.

Innovation is key.

Construction
of the modern funicular

began in 2013.

To build the steepest funicular
in the world

was a monumental task.

There was a lot of challenges
in the construction.

For example, drill heads would
get stuck in the hard rock.

They had to use
a custom-designed machine

that laid prefabricated
concrete tracks

while moving uphill.

The funicular's opening

was two years later than
initially scheduled,

and took four years in total
to complete.

By the time the project
was finished in 2017,

it ended up costing
54 million euros.

The new funicular means that
a larger number of passengers

get to enjoy
this incredible ride.

Over 500,000 people
travel on the Stoosbahn

every year,

but it isn't just
a tourist attraction.

The funicular is a lifeline
for the alpine locals.

It's the fastest
and easiest means of travel

between Schwyz below
and Shoos above, and vice-versa.

The village is pretty remote.

There's only one road

to go up to the village
of Stoos.

People who live up here, they
are dependent on the funicular.

Otherwise, a lot of people

who live up the in the village,
they can't get home.

And the Stoosbahn
moves more than just people.

It serves as
the delivery service

for everything
the village depends upon.

The funicular is designed

to transport all kinds of cargo
and materials up the mountain:

things like concrete, sand
or stones,

but then also, food,
beverages, luggage.

Anything that people need has
to get carried up the mountain.

The funicular is used
for transporting

for the material
that gets brought up.

If someone wants to build
a house or something like that,

then all the building materials

gets transported up
with the funicular.

The funicular
can carry 136 people

and up to one ton of freight
each journey.

Without passengers,
the funicular can transport

up to six tons of material
on its freight platform.

That's enough tonnage to build
the framework of a small house.

Without it,
people would have a problem,

and it will take around two
or three hours

to hike up the mountain.

But it's a really steep hike and
not really a comfortable one.

And if you have
a lot of material, yeah.

It's going to be difficult.

The Stoos funicular
operates through every season,

and this being Switzerland,

it of course
runs like clockwork.

We operate regardless
of the weather.

It doesn't matter
how much it snows,

how much it winds.

The Stoosbahn
is a technological marvel,

a smooth and seamless
seven-minute climb

into the clouds.

It's quite spectacular,

and the engineering
is fantastic and amazing.

This machine is a triumph

of human ingenuity
and problem-solving.

Mounting a 110-degree incline

has pushed the boundaries
of funicular design.

Whether you live
in Schwyz or Stoos

or you're just visiting,

this futuristic funicular is
like nothing else in the world.

At the top of Mount Graham,
more than 3,000 metres up,

there's a mechanical marvel...

...eight storeys high and
13 times heavier than a house.

A pair of specialized eyes
that see deep into the heavens,

capturing light that has
travelled billions of years

to reach us.

This is the
Large Binocular Telescope,

the LBT.

The reason
the Large Binocular Telescope

was placed at the top
of Mount Graham

in southeastern Arizona
was to take advantage of

its high elevation, dry climate
and lack of light pollution.

These are all essential
for maximizing

the performance
of the telescope.

LBT is the only one

binocular telescope
in the world.

It is unique, because it allows

with optics to observe
the same part of the sky

with double the resolution.

We study
everything from nearby stars,

newly forming planets
around those stars,

to some of the most distant
objects in the universe.

The optical technology
in the LBT

is so incredible
that it produces images

up to 10 times sharper than
the Hubble Space Telescope.

With its 360° view,

the LBT has made
numerous discoveries

and revealed the nature
of the Hercules dwarf galaxy,

a companion to the Milky Way.

And it also provides images
of planets

from outside our solar system,
known as exoplanets

that are more than
127 light years away from Earth.

The telescope is important
and powerful

because we can
take images very similar

to the ones you
only could get when

you go very close to the planet
with the spacecraft.

Recording
never-before-seen images

of galaxies and stars
is the strength of the LBT.

But none of that is possible
if the telescope doesn't have

the ability to move quickly
and efficiently.

The LBT can be configured
in 20 minutes or less

with the help of
four powerful motors.

We're standing about 30 feet
away from the telescope.

Those silver C-rings there
are what the telescope slides on

to be able to point down
all the way to horizon,

and then all the way up
right now,

pointing straight up
into the sky.

A few molecules' thick of oil

is going to support
the 650 tons of that telescope.

The LBT
uses high-pressure oil bearings

to essentially float
the massive structure

holding the primary mirrors.

The oil evenly distributes
their colossal weight,

ensuring smoother movement

and eliminating any friction
that could jeopardize

the telescope's
image-capturing capability.

Two small motors on each side
are going to drive those gears

and bring that telescope down
to where it's pointing

straight out the front
of the enclosure.

So, what you're going to see
is 650 tons of steel and glass

and electronics and instruments
in motion.

While the telescope
moves to track the skies,

the enormous 1800-ton structure
surrounding the telescope

is also moving.

Because the building

and the telescope
move independently,

they have to stay in sync
so that the telescope operator

operates the telescope and
the building basically follows

the telescope to stay in sync,

so that the openings
in the building

are where the telescope
is pointing.

Both the telescope
and the supporting structure

match each other's movements

in a perfectly synchronized
ballet of motion.

The telescope rotates
on an inner rail,

while the building itself
rotates on an outer rail.

No wobbles, jittering, or lag.

It's all perfectly smooth, so
the LBT can seamlessly capture

the perfect images.

The fortress of
the LBT sits on the bogey level.

This is where you find
all the wheels

that support
its rotating housing.

We're here
on the top of the concrete pier

that supports this 2,000-ton
enclosure above us

that wraps around the telescope.

And behind me,
this is the bogey,

one of four that allows
that building to move.

That's an enormous ask
for these wheels.

They are attached to
a singular frame,

but the weight they have to bear
is staggering,

with each of the 20 wheels
supporting 91 tons.

The reason it's moving
is because the telescope

is being pointed to
a certain direction,

and the building is going to
follow the telescope.

So, the bogey drives
are keeping the building aligned

with the view of the telescope.

The components

that make the LBT
scientifically invaluable are

the two eight-and-a-half-metre
diameter mirrors

mounted side-by-side
at its base.

This telescope has the largest
mirrors in existence.

Telescope performance

is a function of its size,
primarily because a larger lens

or mirror collects more light
and provides higher resolution.

So, a bigger lens
allows astronomers

to see fainter
and more distant objects

and produce sharper
and more detailed images.

Together, the resolution
of these two mirrors

is greater than that of
the telescopes twice their size.

The twin mirrors of the LBT

were cast at the University
of Arizona in 1997 and 2000.

Molten glass
was spun in a huge oven,

forming
a natural bowl-shaped curve

while also creating
a honeycomb structure inside

for strength and reduced weight.

This made the mirrors
more thermally stable

than solid glass.

These high-precision mirrors

are the key
to the entire operation.

They allow
the Large Binocular Telescope

to pinpoint specific locations

that scientists
want to learn more about,

then collect and focus

the light they pull in
from outer space

to create the stunning images
that the LBT is known for.

The balancing system of the LBT

helps it remain fixed
on one spot in space.

As the light from the stars
passes through the atmosphere,

turbulence in the air
distorts and blurs the light.

Adaptive optics corrects
for the blurring

using secondary mirrors
with magnets on their back

that change the mirror's shape

more than 1,000 times
per second.

The corrected light is deflected

towards the centre
of the telescope,

where it's combined and captured

as high-resolution images
by the camera.

The secondary mirrors

are actually remarkable, because
they can reverse the distortion.

It's very similar to
noise-cancelling headphones

and sound waves.

This is the first implementation
of this technology

on any telescope in the world

It allows us to make
incredible measurements

that rival what you can do
from space.

The mirrors can read
the chemical fingerprints

or the unique patterns of stars,
planets, galaxies,

and even black holes,

turning a faint glimmer of light

into a clear window
to the universe.

Every time
the observatory dome opens

to let the telescope scan
the skies,

the primary mirrors
are exposed to the elements.

The primary mirror

is very fragile. It's all glass.

And it takes about three years

to produce another mirror

if something happens
to this one.

The amount of time that we would
lose if something happened?

It would be extremely expensive.

With the universe's secrets

at stake,
these oversized peepers

need to be cleaned
and refreshed regularly,

and that requires an incredibly
specialized machine.

Enter the bell jar,

a nine-metre-in-diameter
vacuum chamber

that is used to resurface
the mirrors.

Every year,

one of the two primary mirrors
gets a facelift,

where the bell jar applies

a fresh reflective coating
of aluminum.

With most telescopes,

their mirror
would be cleaned in a lab,

but with the LBT, its mirrors
stay on the telescope.

This eliminates
the massive undertaking

of bringing them
down the mountain

in order to carry out
this process.

The cleaning phase

is the first step
for resurfacing the mirrors.

All the aluminum
is chemically stripped away.

Then, the 23-ton bell jar
is hoisted up by a crane.

It's carefully put in place

on top of the mirror,

creating a pressurized seal
to begin the process.

So, what you're doing is
you're creating a vacuum chamber

between this structure,
the bell jar,

and the primary mirror of
the Large Binocular Telescope.

These are vacuum pumps,
and they're controllers

to pull the vacuum,
and it pulls all the air

and the moisture
out of the bell jar.

Getting a good vacuum
is critical to a good re-coat.

Once the vacuum seal
is complete,

a small quantity of aluminum
is vaporized

and falls in a layer
across the mirror.

This aluminum
is what gives the mirrors

their highly reflective
capabilities.

In order to work
at their optimum capacity,

the instruments of the LBT

have to be kept at a temperature

of -196° Celsius.

If they were to overheat,

the images taken
by the telescope

would have digital noise or
distortion, making them useless.

So, liquid nitrogen is used
to keep things chilly.

Liquid nitrogen

is a perfect plan
for sensitive instruments

due to its low temperature

and its ability to absorb
large amounts of heat.

This makes it ideal
for uses in medicine, science

and electronics, where precision
and stability are critical.

This is what cools

the instruments
on the telescope.

Every morning
and every afternoon,

we have to transfer out of these

to the instruments
that are up on the telescope.

With an instrument, it creates
heat from the electronics,

and it distorts the pictures
if they see a heat trace.

So, we must cool them all down.

A heat trace appears as
an increase in thermal noise

or static in the detector,

which can overwhelm the signal
from faint sources in the sky.

The LBT isn't just cold.

It's the coolest set

of astronomical binoculars
on earth,

but building them was
a huge undertaking.

The steel skeleton
of the telescope

took shape in Italy in 2002,

and the massive structure
was shipped across the ocean

and up the mountain
to be assembled.

The enormous mirrors
were created in Arizona,

but they too had to be
transported up the mountain,

the last stretch of which
is a very winding route.

In 2008, the LBT

was finally put to work,
ogling the universe

with both eyes open
to record the incredible images

that have made it famous
in the science community.

This is
an international project.

The telescope
is a collaboration between

the scientific institutions
from the USA, Italy and Germany.

Italian scientists

have made the LBT
even more powerful

by adding a system of
instruments called the SHARK.

The SHARK is made up of

sophisticated
optical instruments

that increase the visual
capacity of the telescope

and produce incredibly
high-resolution images.

The SHARK is optimized to
capture not only visible light,

but also near-infrared light.

Near-infrared light
has wavelengths just beyond

the red end
of the visible spectrum,

making it invisible
to the human eye.

So, these instruments
are highly sensitive.

It gives us the most
magnification

in the world of astronomy.

The SHARK collects the light
through the telescope by means

of two mirrors that sends
the light inside the instrument.

We look at the brightness

at every specific colour,
which contains

a huge amount of information
about these objects

we can see sometimes billions
of light years away.

This is
the most important instrument,

because it exploits
the potential of the telescope

and gives us the maximum
magnification we can achieve

with the Large Binocular
Telescope.

It also can record
a very faint object

close to bright sources.

For example, we can see a fly

flying around a street lamp

from 400 kilometres far away.

In humanity's eternal quest

to understand our place
in the cosmos,

few machines
have proven mightier than

the Large Binocular Telescope.

This telescope
is a time machine.

It takes light to travel

from those objects out in space
to reach us.

As we look to more and more
distant objects,

we're looking further
and further back in time.

We can look back through 90%
of the history of the universe

with this telescope.

This set of eyes captures

the past, present and future
of our universe.

Every day, the LBT reminds us

that Earth's mightiest machines

aren't only built
to conquer land, sea or sky,

but to stretch our vision
across time itself.