All language subtitles for D52909B152A13B4ED56703F205B34BBE_eng

The moon, our closest celestial
companion, our indispensable

dance partner through the
cosmos, lighting our night sky and

gently tugging at our shores.
Few have walked on her

surface, but her allure remains
strong. Once again we are

glancing her way with renewed
interest and with a view to returning very

When I was a little girl and
people were always asking

me, what do you want to be
when you grow up? And I used to

always go, I want to work
up there. As an engineer, you

dream of a job like this
where you get to follow in the

footsteps of some of your
childhood heroes and of course for

me the Apollo missions, seeing
these folks on TV step on the

moon and work for NASA, as
an engineer it's just a dream to

be able to say, you know I
want to do that too and here I

am.

Only a dozen Americans
have kicked the dirt on the lunar

surface. It was a bold and
dangerous engineering achievement

driven by a political agenda.

The Apollo program was
important because it showed that we

could leave our home planet
and visit an object like the

moon. However, what we want
to do next is learn how to live

and work off of our home planet
on another planetary surface

like the moon. By developing
this capability, we'll be able

to know how to go throughout
the inner solar system which

has many important
destinations both for science

understanding and also may
have economic importance for not

only our generation but
for future generations.

The Soviet Union and the U.S.
had peppered the lunar surface

with soft and hard landing
spacecraft. The Soviets' Luna 24

was the last of that program,
returning soil samples that

contained traces of water.
Much of science and technology

has advanced since the
1970s. The mechanism of world

politics has evolved, new
partnerships have formed, new

players are looking
skyward and, more recently,

private enterprise has
taken up the challenge.

With the faintest of inklings
that there may be usable water

on the moon, a forensic
focus has turned to the southern

polar region. Scientific
programs in the 90s refocused on

the moon. Japan was the
first to revive lunar research and

only the third nation
to achieve lunar orbit

with high ten on a
dust-collecting mission.

The U.S. followed with
Clementine, a joint NASA military

project. It completed a mapping
survey of the lunar surface

along with gravitational
data and evidential proof of

possible water ice hidden
in a south polar crater in

permanent darkness. Four
years later, Lunar Prospector

mapped lunar resources,
gravity and magnetic fields. It was

also impacted into the
southern region of the surface to

elicit more evidence of
water ice hidden in the craters.

Europe's contribution to
this resurgence in lunar

exploration began with the
launch of SMART-1. This tiny, ion

-propelled satellite cataloged
key chemical elements on the

surface. It also enhanced the
theory that the moon was the

result of a collision between
Earth and a smaller celestial

body called Theas some four
and a half billion years ago.

Japan's second probe was
Selene, better known in Japan as

Kaguya. It continued extensive
observations of the lunar

crust and also carried the
first high-definition cameras

into lunar orbit, giving us a
clearer picture of the rugged

surface.

Another proof of capability,
this time by India. It also

carried a NASA mineralogy
mapper and an impact probe. It

played a key role in the
confirmation of water hidden in the

southern lunar pole. Eight
months later, NASA launched the

Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter, or LRO. It has spent the

last few years mapping and
scanning the lunar world with

sophisticated sensors and
continues to return a wealth of

data. The Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter is, as its namesake

says, a reconnaissance
mission to the moon. Our job is to

take a suite of very powerful
scientific instruments and

make an atlas of the entire
moon in some places in very

great detail. Topography,
mountain heights, mineralogy,

temperatures, abundances of
resources including potentially

the intriguing possibility
that there's water at the moon.

We put all this together
into a data set by flying low

over the moon for a year.
This is the data that the people

designing the human systems,
designing the systems, picking

the sites, need to take us
back to the moon. This robotic

mission commenced operations
in June 2009. It was hoped the

suite of sensors would fulfill
several scientific goals, not

only for the moon, but as a
framework for understanding

planetary processes throughout
the solar system. The LRO

Instrument Suite is comprised
of six instruments and

one technology demonstrator.
And they are geared towards

providing us a variety of data
sets ranging from a thermal

map of the moon, global
topography, and most importantly

looking for resources like
water ice on the moon. The entire

suite should provide more of
an atlas as opposed to a map so

that we know where to go on
the moon, where to have the safe

landing sites, and where to
put things like lunar outposts

in the hopes of having human
exploration in the near future.

The data being returned from
LRO and the other probes draws

a clear image of the evolution
of the lunar surface and why

it is composed of exactly the
same elements as the Earth.

After coalescing from the
Earth-theas collision, the proto

-moon cooled, then suffered
several major collisions from

orbital debris, which
created many of the largest

surface characteristics,
including the mares.

Cratering continued
relentlessly over the

millennia, drawing
the familiar lunar vista.

My name is Lynn Carter, I'm a
research space scientist and I

work with the Planetary
Geodynamics Group here at Goddard. I

study the geology of planetary
surfaces, the Earth, moon,

Mars, Venus. There's a lot of
things you can learn about the

Earth by studying other
planets. For example, on the Earth

we have a lot of erosive
processes, you know, it rains, it

washes parts of the surface
away, we have plate tectonics

which recycles the crust.
But on other planets, those

processes don't necessarily
occur. So for example, when we

look at the moon, we're seeing
a surface that's much older.

We can use impact cratering
on the moon to sort of

understand how many impacts
happen the size of the objects

that were hitting each other
in the early solar system. One

of my favorite things is to
use radar remote sensing. For

example, on Mars, we can
use radars to sound all the way

to the bottom of Mars polar
caps and see all this layering

within the polar caps. And
on the moon, we're using it to

study impact cratering.
Sometimes when an impact crater is

formed, a huge sheet of melt
is thrown out. This melted rock

flows across the surface,
but then over time it's covered

over by stuff from other
impacts. But with the radar, it

just blows right through all
of that and you can see this

beautiful image of the melt
floor coming out of the crater.

Launched with LRO was LCROSS,
or Lunar Crater Observation

and Sensing Satellite. It
deployed some time later than LRO

and had a finite mission.
LCROSS and the rocket stage that

delivered it were deliberately
crashed into the craters of

the south pole, whilst LRO
orbited above and observed the

impacts. The debris and
gases thrown up from the lunar

surface were closely studied
by LCROSS as it too descended

to the surface. The missions
found evidence that the

lunar soil within these
shadowy craters is rich in useful

materials. The moon is
chemically active and has a water

cycle. Scientists also confirmed
the water was in the form

of mostly pure ice crystals which had
not seen sunlight for billions of years.

LRO has continued to
operate in polar orbit, making

observations of the south
pole, and with repeated flyovers,

it has drawn up a detailed
map of neutron densities in the

region, revealing where hydrogen
and thus water can be found

within the lunar soil. The
importance of this discovery

cannot be overestimated.
Having this resource in situ means

independence from the cost and effort
of bringing water from Earth to the moon.

It can be used for creating
rocket fuel, oxygen to breathe,

water to consume and to
irrigate gases to manufacture

building materials from the lunar soil.

Launched in 2007, NASA's
five Themis spacecraft have now

successfully completed their
two-year mission to determine

the cause of geomagnetic
substorms. Because they are

continuing to work perfectly,
NASA redirected the outermost

two spacecraft to the moon.
This new mission was called

Artemis, and they studied the
magnetospheric environment

near the moon. They also
observed the effects of surface

electric fields and ions from
the solar winds on the lunar

surface, and determined the
internal structure of the moon

from variations in its magnetic
field. Well, in a nutshell,

what we're finding is that
the polar craters are very

unusual electrical environments.
Well, the solar wind is

actually a relatively tenuous
gas that's emitted from the

sun. But it's not a neutral
gas like the gas in this room.

It's actually a gas that's
really, for the most part, free

ions and free electrons. So
as you pass by, for example, a

polar crater, the electrons
will actually fill into the

crater ahead of the ions.
Now, as it turns out, as it does

that, you create an electric
field. It's called an ambipolar

electric field, and that
electric field then drives in the

ions. These hidden troves of
water, ice, and other volatiles

in the polar craters may
be protected by a dangerous

electric charge of hundreds
of volts. Three, two, one,

zero, and liftoff of the Delta
II with GRAIL. Journey to the

center of the moon. GRAIL
consisted of two probes called

Ebb and Flow. Linked together
in a single flight path, they

studied the gravitational field
of the moon, generating maps

like this crustal thickness
atlas. It reveals much about the

interior of the moon and even
has some surprises. Two years

ago, we reported evidence that
the moon is shrinking. Now we

found evidence that the moon
is actually being pulled apart,

forming features called
graben. So the shrinking moon, it

turns out, is not shrinking
everywhere. Some places, the

moon is actually expanding
by a little bit. So finding these

young graben was a real
surprise because we thought,

well, all these low-bait scarps
are telling us the moon is

shrinking. So what are these
little small graben that are

telling us the moon is pulling
apart doing in this picture?

Or how does this all fit
together? All that's related to how

the moon has evolved, how
the moon has lost heat over its

four and a half billion
year history. Most of the

terrestrial planets, when
they formed, were very hot, and

they got so hot that they
actually completely melted. When

that happens, they will be in
a general state of contraction

because they're still hot on
the inside and cooling down,

and as they cool, they want
to shrink. Only the outer part

of the moon melted, forming
what is called a magma ocean,

and in that model, the balance
of stresses or forces that

are acting on the moon would
allow us to form both these

small low-bait scarps that
show contraction as well as these

small graben that show
the moon being pulled apart.

One of the really, really
exciting returns of the Lunar

Reconnaissance Orbiter
mission is that we've seen this now

growing evidence of very
young geologic activity on the

moon. The moon's crust is
much thinner on the near side,

68 kilometers thick on average,
and varies from less than a

kilometer under Marie Crisium
to 107 kilometers thick just

north of the crater Corolef
on the lunar far side. The

moon's mantle is only
partially molten, and the moon's

center of mass is offset by
about two kilometers in the

direction toward the Earth.
This and other data quickly

changed our understanding
of the moon. To gather more

evidence on the unusual
electrical properties on the lunar

surface and how it affects
lunar dust, NASA sent Ladi, the

lunar atmosphere and
dust environment explorer, to

investigate. At higher
altitudes, we saw very few dust

particle impacts, but the
lower we went with Ladi, the

more we saw, and it's a very,
very steep rise. So if you're

operating with spacecraft
very close to the surface of the

moon, as you would with a
robotic lander or a human lander,

you might need to consider
the fact that you've got more

dust there in the way as
you come in. This probe flew

progressively lower and
finally impacted on the surface.

This is Morpheus, a
robotic, self-guided lander.

You tell it where to land,
and it will do the rest,

independently seeking the
safest course and avoiding any

rocky dangers.

The ESA were also developing an autonomous
lander to perform the same function.

The lunar lander is a small
but very challenging mission.

The most important part of
it is of course landing on the

south pole of the moon, which
requires innovative solutions

concerning landing, hazard
avoidance, navigation, and in

fact, this is the mission
which will bring about the new

generation of navigation and
guidance sensor algorithm and

software. But a fiscal year
is a long time in space. NASA

now have little interest in
returning men to the moon, they

are firmly focused on a Martian
landscape. The Europeans

have had budget cuts, the
ESA lander now shelved for the

time being. This leaves the
door wide open for Russia and

the younger players, China,
India and Japan, plus several

private companies now developing
the same technology to put

first robots, then humans
on the moon. All this time, the

Chinese National Space
Administration, or CNSA, had launched

two orbiter reconnaissance
satellites, Chang'e 1 and 2. Then

Chang'e 3 deposited a lunar
rover on the surface. Their

latest, Chang'e 5, made a
return trip around the moon. They

are firmly set on a permanent
manned lunar base. I think the

reason this has resonated
with so many people and all over

the world, it's not just our
country, it's because everyone

can look up in the sky and
see the moon. And I think a lot

of people remember the Apollo
landings, the first man on the

moon, and you can also look
up at the sky and I believe that

people, it's very tangible
to them that way, the moon,

they can relate. So they want
to be a part of it. That's my

theory on why people are just so connected.

The moon is indeed a
tantalizing prize. The Chinese have

their lander and rover there
now. Japan and India will be

next. South Korea has an
interest along with Russia, Canada,

France, Italy and the United
Kingdom. Private Enterprise has

had a prod with the Google
Lunar X Prize. The 30 million

dollar prize pales beside
the glory of being the first

private company to land a
robot on the moon and to explore

at least 500 meters and transmit
high definition images back

to Earth. So far there are
four hot contenders. The

Barcelona Moon Team, a
consortium of companies headed by

Galactic Suite Design.
Their interests lie in space

technology and industry with
a strong focus on tourism. Penn

State Lunar Lion Team. Faculty
and students are developing

a spacecraft to land on the
moon, then lift off again and

relocate to fulfill the prize
requirements. Moon Express is

a group of space and Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs looking to

mine the moon for its
valuable resources like platinum,

titanium and the rare isotope
helium-3. Finally, Astrobotic

Technology. A Pennsylvania
based company with support from

other companies including
Alcoa and Caterpillar. They have

already reserved a launch on a
SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Getting to the moon is one
thing, staying there is another.

It was one thing to go for a
handful of days at Apollo and

go when you knew that the sun
was quiet or you hoped the sun

stayed quiet and you took
the risk, you calculated the risk

of cancer and such and you
made a short mission. You're

going to live there longer,
you need to understand it well

enough to go, here's what I
need to do to protect myself.

One of the things that we're
looking for in the LRO mission

is how the high radiation
environment affects our ability

to explore. So if we bring
cameras or communication devices,

how will they be impacted by
the cosmic radiation? We need

to protect our equipment as
well as ourselves. We want to be

able to go back to the moon
so that we can live there for

long periods and work on the
moon. So we need a mission that

can help us find the best
places to go and determine how to

go back there safely. Access
to solar power continuously,

that may be the first and
most important reason over the

near term and then the
possibility of resources being there.

Those may take much longer
time before we're able to really

exploit those but the solar
power is something we can

exploit right away. Whether
it's water, ice to have water

or potential minerals that we
could use as raw materials to

make into things that we
would need. All the major players

have designed and planned
many varieties of lunar bases.

NASA, ESA and private
contractors have concepts on the

drawing board. As more
information comes in from the lunar

satellites on the
environment, resources and

dangers of cosmic
radiation, these plans evolve.

One of the latest is to
use 3D printing technology.

With all the challenges and
difficulties, many have made

firm commitments to
establishing bases within 10 to 15

years. Some for scientific research,
others for commercialization and tourism.

Some would choose not to
send test pilots and scientists,

but stewardesses and sommeliers.
When we look back at what

we did in LRO and we look
at what followed, I think we'll

see a profound impact.
We'll see us as really being the

small first step where we
have human beings permanently

off this planet, getting to
move out into the solar system,

starting with the moon. As
that pans out, I think we'll be

a small piece of a profound
development that when history

looks back, this time we
went back to the moon,

this time we stayed and
we moved on from there.

As we continue to study the
moon, our understanding of it

improves, giving us new
insights not only into how it has

evolved over time, but
also how other rocky planets

in our solar system have
come to look the way they do.

With new missions, new
instruments and new technologies,

we will continue to improve
our knowledge of the moon and

better understand the history
of our solar system. NASA Jet

Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology