All language subtitles for One.Strange.Rock.S01E03.Shield.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTb.Eng

♪ ♪

WILL SMITH: The sun...

Gives us warmth and light.

It is the fuel of life.

Without the energy of the
sun almost nothing grows,
thrives or lives.

But the sun was not
put there for our benefit.

It is not this big jolly ball
of nice smiling down on us,
wishing us all a good day.

It is not our friend.

The sun is a monster.

A planet killer.

And we don't see that
side of the sun down here.

But eight astronauts,
with over 1,000 days in
space between them,

Can show us how being up there
helped them understand the
suns bright fury.

JEFF: It's got an incredible
amount of power which you

really appreciate when
you go out in space.

MAE: Just like the
gods of old, the sun
can give life and it

can destroy life.

JERRY: It's a
mean son of a gun.

It's exploding and it's
sending cosmic radiation at us.

-Given the amount of radiation
from the sun, there shouldn't

be life on the
surface of the earth.

We shouldn't be here.

WILL SMITH: But we are here.

And we owe our
lives to this world.

I'm gonna tell you
how the earths core...

The air above us....

and life itself
work to protect us.

The earth shields us
in a suit of armor.

And the way she does it...

Is one hell of
a strange story.

(car horn)

♪ ♪

You see that guy in the crowd?

He's just a bit different
from the rest of us.

He's a spaceman.

Once he risked his
life to fix a telescope
350 miles above the earth.

And he's spent a lifetime
studying the stars.

-People still feel this
incredible fascination with,

with looking at the sun.

Twice a year it just
crosses the line of the
cross streets of Manhattan...

And sets at just that right
point that it just makes a

beautiful orange glow
which permeates the city.

In some sense I suppose I
could say I saw more of the

true character of the sun...

Than people who are always
on the surface of the earth.

You open the airlock and
then turn around and look up.

It's like that great scene in
the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy

comes out of the
house and it's not
black and white anymore.

All of a sudden, the
whole world is in color.

WOMAN (over radio): But
don't forget those visors.

They do come in
handy when that big fire
ball is staring at you.

-Yep.

One of my great eureka
moments was realizing for
the first time when I

was in space that
I was seeing the sun
in a black sky.

Think of that.

You really see
the sun as a star.

Particularly when I
was out in the space suit,

the power of the sun
just hits you in the guts.

It just goes through
your entire body.

LELAND: The temperature
extremes are 250 degrees in

the sun and then minus
250 in the shade.

That's pretty incredible
and that our suits can
withstand those temperatures.

-But even we astronauts
only experience a fraction
of the sun's power.

It has many weapons
it can send our way.

Heat, light and
deadly flares that can
devastate entire planets.

Look at Mars.

Billions of years ago we
think it was just like us...

A potential cradle for life.

But radiation from
the sun ravaged it.

Solar flares with the
destructive power of billions

of Hiroshima atomic
bombs helped chew
away Mars's atmosphere

and the oceans
evaporated into space.

WILL SMITH: Earth is even
closer to the sun than Mars,

so how come we're
not dust and ashes?

See, the thing is, our
planet is strong on defense.

And every player has a role.

From the edge of space...

To the deepest oceans...

To one of the most
hostile places on earth.

SIMS: We'll be sleeping
with gas masks on.

Sometimes it'll clear up and
be beautiful but most of the

time we'll be wearing our
gas masks even to bed.

WILL SMITH: Ken Sims
doesn't do nine to five.

This is his idea of a
good day at the office.

For over 20 years he's
ventured into active volcanoes

across the globe to collect
samples of molten lava.

Studying this stuff is one of
the best ways to understand

what's happening in the center
of the earth and the process

that protects us from the sun.

KANE: Pretty much that
whole bottom terrace now is
completely covered in brand new

lava flow, isn't it?

-Yeah. And with the new
lava flow coming around
against the wall there,

we'll have to watch out.

The lava's intensely hot,
roughly 2,000 degrees.

It will burn pretty much
anything on contact.

-Okay, heading over.

I'll go over just
towards the edge here.

We'll have a look.

Whoa.

Holy...

It's just opened up on
that side, hasn't it?

-Yeah, totally.
-Whoa.

Yeah, Ken, I'm pretty certain
that there is absolutely no
way we are going down there.

That is without doubt
mission impossible.

-Okay, well, we're
cancelling this mission.

-Yeah.

-Just anybody with half a
brain wouldn't go down there.

WILL SMITH: The new
vent means Ken can't
take samples from the lake,

but he doesn't need to.

The vent is firing
fresh lava right at him.

-There's a lot of lava
bombs around here.

It's just covered with bombs.

Wow, I'm...

can see the vent from here.

It's really rocking
and rolling.

-I'm gonna head back up, over.
-Sure, I'll come back.

The solid lava samples we've
collected are radioactive.

They have uranium
and thorium in them.

Those elements are really
important for maintaining the
heat of the earth.

WILL SMITH: But wait a second.

What does any of this
have to do with keeping
us safe from the sun?

Radioactive lava up here
proves there's a raging

nuclear furnace at the
heart of our planet.

It is one big ball
of incredible heat.

I mean, a very big ball.

But that's not all.

These molten insides are
full of iron and nickel.

Rising, falling, spinning in
a constantly melting furnace.

And all that churning metal
creates its own magnetic field.

♪ ♪

This magnetic field
stretches as far as
400,000 miles into space...

surrounding the entire planet.

It is a massive force field
and it helps deflect the

deadly radiation
that destroyed Mars.

♪ ♪

-For the most part our
magnetic field is invisible.

But when the sun flares up,
we get to see it in action.

We call it the aurora.

It's pretty much on
everyone's bucket list
but in space you see it in an

entirely different way.

LELAND: I saw this green glow.

It's almost like
a person dancing.

It was a shape and
these forms that were
moving as we went over.

CHRIS: And the greens and reds
and all of the faint colors,

like this enormous
ghost of a curtain.

NICOLE: You're not just
seeing it with your eyes.

It, you're feeling it.

You're feeling it with
your heart as well.

It's a part of you.

-When we look down at the
aurora it's all the more

beautiful because
we know that we're
looking at our planet

keeping us safe from the sun.

WILL SMITH: But you know what?

It takes more than that one
shield to keep us alive...

because the sun
has another weapon.

A silent assassin.

The assassin's name?

Light.

WILL SMITH: Everything
revolves around the sun.

Literally.

It's the big boss of the solar
system but its most deceptive

weapon is something
we usually think
of as our friend.

Light.

It's a hazard astronauts
need special protection from.

JEFF: We see the
visible light from
the sun but there's

also ultraviolet light.

That can actually do
significant damage.

JERRY: Every porthole
window has special layers,
different UV filters.

On space station MIR there
was one that was not.

But when I floated
over that thing,
if you sat there and

had those rays of sun hit
you, in less than a minute,

you'd see your skin reddened.

-The power of UV light in
space means that without our

gold visors our eyesight
could be damaged permanently.

For almost all life
on earth facing the sun
as we do in space would

ultimately be fatal.

♪ ♪

It's crazy, right?

In space you need a
$12 million spacesuit to
protect you from the sun...

whereas on the surface of
the earth just some lotion
does the job perfectly fine.

♪ ♪

We're quite fortunate.

Only about 2% of the really
damaging ultraviolet radiation

from the sun actually
gets down to the surface.

If every bit got
down to earth...

skin would burn in
a matter of seconds.

That's just the start.

UV radiation
breaks down DNA and turns
healthy cells cancerous.

If we were hit by the
full force of the sun,

plants would be sterilized...

microscopic life
would be sterilized...

life couldn't be sustained
on the surface of the earth.

WILL SMITH: Ultraviolet light
is vicious so how come we're

not burned to a crisp?

The answer is high above us.

The sun slings deadly
UV light at us...

but most of it is stopped in
its tracks by a thin blanket

of molecules that we
call the ozone layer.

The ozone layer is
our second shield in
the sky but it's fragile,

extremely fragile.

30 years ago, we discovered
manmade chemicals had punched

a hole in the ozone layer.

Is that hole here to stay?

Waiting around to kill us?

Today we're trying
hard to find out.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Morgan Sandercock is about
to test an experimental plane
perfect for sampling ozone.

MAN (over radio):
Go ahead, go,
pressurizing.

We think we can go as
high as 90,000 feet.
Jim, you're ready to go.

JIM (over radio): I'm ready.

MORGAN: That's the
big boy territory.

That's where things can
wrong very, very quickly.

If we lose cabin pressure,
then the pilots could very

easily pass out and we don't
have any automatic systems to

recover from that.

WOMAN (over radio):
Getting ready to roll.

WILL SMITH: Now a
glider might sound like a
dangerous choice so high up,

but gliders don't
have engines which means
they can't pollute

the team's samples.

MAN (over radio): Got
a firm count, dolly off.

WOMAN (over radio):
Count, dolly is off,
wing wheel is off.

MAN (over radio):
Okay, rolling at 11:32.

-11:32, written down, if
you can get us the time.

MAN (over radio): Airborne.

♪ ♪

WILL SMITH: The Perlan glider
uses air rising over the
southern Andes

to reach
extraordinary heights.

-Air speed, 70 knots.
Looking beautiful,
(inaudible).

MAN (over radio):
Traffic, yeah.

WILL SMITH: 52,000 feet up
makes this the highest glider

flight ever but you've gotta
get this high to get a great
picture of the ozone layer.

The good news is that thanks
to a global ban on ozone

harming chemicals, it looks
like the hole is healing up.

Our shield is regenerating.

MIKE: Our planet is not
an inanimate object.

It's a living thing
and it can heal itself.

JERRY: When we discovered
the hole in the ozone layer,

mankind did come
together on that one and
we banned those substances.

-You look down and
you see this fragile
planet which supports life

on its surface in the
face of the incredible

hostility and so you
become much more sensitive,

I think, to the
need to protect it.

WILL SMITH: Any way
you look at it, the
ozone layer is pretty special.

This shield has looked
after us for millions of years,

even before mankind
came down from the trees,
even before the

dinosaurs walked the earth.

Without the ozone layer
there would be no human race.

Life on earth would be
trapped under water.

WILL SMITH: In Earth's battle
with the sun, the sun has

often had the upper hand.

Today the ozone
layer protects us from
UV but once upon a time,

it wasn't there.

The only safe place for
life was under the waves.

Life would probably
still be down there if
it wasn't for something

new that emerged
nearly three billion
years ago and found a way

to use sunlight
to its advantage.

♪ ♪

JEFF: Billions of years
ago as ancient organisms first
harnessed the energy of the sun,

they began
producing a waste product.

Oxygen.

At first it was just
a few individuals, but
thousands became millions.

Millions became trillions.

All bubbling up oxygen.

When oxygen gas rises high
into the atmosphere something

very special happens to it.

It transforms into
protective ozone.

Under the shelter of this
ozone layer, first microbes

then fungi and plants
migrated out of the water.

And this meant even more
oxygen was being produced,

further strengthening
our shield against
the sun's UV light.

And this would help make
possible one of our planet's

most defining moments.

♪ ♪

Protected by a thicker
ozone layer than ever before,

a whole new world of
possibilities opened
up for life on earth.

♪ ♪

We think it was about 400
million years ago when simple

vertebrates first took their
tentative steps onto dry land.

It's probable that these
early animals were moving
around using something that

was still pretty
much like the fins
that they used to get

around in the water.

With that one small step
from water to dry land...

life on earth changed forever.

That was one small step
for animal kind and one
giant leap for life on earth.

♪ ♪

WILL SMITH: Life spilled
out of the water in a
billion different ways

taking on a host of forms.

All because of that special
layer of oxygen up in the sky.

Right, so that's two shields
that our planet gives us.

But the sun has
a final weapon.

Heat.

It's pumping out
millions of degrees of
powerful burn and that

powerful burn is intensified
by an ally down here on earth,

one feared by
people everywhere.

(chanting in native language)

(chanting in native language)

(chanting in native language)

(chanting in native language)

(chanting in native language)

WILL SMITH: Volcanoes
make terrible neighbors
but even if you live

far away from one,

like on the other
side of the planet,

a volcano could
still make you feel the heat.

Much of this gas cloud
is CO2, carbon dioxide,

and CO2 is a killer.

It traps heat in
the atmosphere.

If you wanna know how
dangerous CO2 can be,

just try taking
a walk on Venus.

-The surface of Venus
is hotter than hell.

CHRIS: Surprisingly the planet
with the hottest temperature

at the surface in our whole
solar system is Venus,

even though it's not the
planet closest to the sun.

That is purely the effect of
having too much carbon dioxide

in your atmosphere.

WILL SMITH: On earth
volcanoes have been
firing CO2 into the sky

for billions of years.

So, here's the question.

How come it's
pretty cool here on Earth
while Venus is fully baked?

Well, the earth has its
own way of dealing with CO2,
unique to this planet.

But it can easily go wrong.

WILL SMITH: The sun threatens
us with solar explosions and
ultraviolet light

but its most dangerous
weapon could be plain old heat.

It can cook planets,
especially ones wrapped in a

warm blanket of
carbon dioxide gas.

But the Earth has its
own very elegant way
to stop itself from being

boiled dry by the sun.

The best way to see
it in action is from
250 miles straight up.

JEFF: Just like the human
body has ways of keeping all
of our systems in check,

similarly the
earth has its own
regulatory system...

and it's kept just about the
right amount of carbon dioxide

in the atmosphere.

From space you got a
unique perspective.

The process starts with
something no other planet in

the solar system has.

An air conditioning system
made possible by rain.

Normally we think of the rain
as being pure water coming

down out of the sky but
actually it's carrying

dissolved carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere and

this makes it acidic enough
to dissolve rocks.

Ultimately this water, silt
and locked-up carbon dioxide

will all get washed into
the planet's rivers.

This process goes on right
under our noses every day but

sometimes it can
make itself visible in a
truly spectacular fashion.

WILL SMITH: These people
get to take a small peek
at the way our world keeps

itself cool and, wow,
is it impressive.

♪ ♪

WILL SMITH: Hidden in
all that water is carbon

pulled from the sky.

This great river is
forcing it into the ocean.

Seen from above its
raging majesty is laid
out for the stars to see.

-Looking at rivers from
space you really get a
sense of the movement of huge

amounts of material.

It's unforgettable.

You can see the brown
color which goes way,

way out into the ocean.

As rivers spit out huge
quantities of sediment and

locked-up CO2, carbon that
was once in our atmosphere
gets buried at the bottom

of the ocean and that
helps cool down our planet.

Over millions of years the
cycle of rain, rivers and

volcanoes has helped balance
the CO2 in our atmosphere,

keeping us warm in the
coldness of space while

preventing us from being
boiled alive by the sun.

I had studied earth science
but when you actually go into

space you feel it
on a visceral level.

You realize it's
the living Earth.

LELAND: All of these systems
on the planet whether it's,

you know, volcanoes, whether
it's currents in the ocean...

are shaping and molding
this planet that we see.

NICOLE: It looks like
it's its own organism.

Like it's living, it's
breathing, it's the...

as the clouds move, I mean,
it's almost like it's...

it looks alive.

WILL SMITH: Nature's ancient
systems have kept our planet
safe for billions of years

but now they're
changing in a very big way.

-Right now humans are
pumping 60 times more
CO2 into our atmosphere

than volcanoes and
there isn't enough
time for the Earth's

air conditioning
system to correct the problem.

The planet is getting hotter.

How much hotter?

That depends on us.

It's not gonna be easy
but my hope is that just
as we fixed the ozone hole,

humans are ultimately
gonna be able to fix this.

WILL SMITH: Human beings
don't have to just stand
by and watch Earth's war

with the sun.

We can help.
We have to.

For almost four billion
years our planet has held
off the power of the sun,

but that fire ball will get
us in the end and thanks to

Jeff Hoffman
we've been given a terrifying
glimpse into the future.

A very bright future.

WILL SMITH: For almost four
billion years our planet has

shielded us from the sun.

But those shields won't
protect us forever.

Ask Jeff Hoffman.

He was part of the team who
allowed us to see our ultimate

fate when he helped fix
the Hubble telescope.

JEFF: Hubble couldn't
see straight.

It was the butt of jokes
of late night comedians.

It was denounced in the
halls of the US Congress
as a techno turkey.

It was a disaster.

So fixing Hubble was
critical for the future space

activities that NASA
wanted to carry out.

We are inspired.
We are ready.
Let's go fix this thing.

Both as an astronomer
and an astronaut to take my
two hands and put them on

the Hubble space telescope
and actually fix it...

WOMAN (over radio):
Endeavored motion
of the aperture door.

-Roger, we're alive.

That's been a great
source of satisfaction.

We have a good release.

WOMAN (over radio):
Copy. And we very
much appreciate it.

MAN (over radio): I do have
some good news for you, Jeff.

The payload folks have gone
through a complete checkout
and are fully functional.

-Great news.

WILL SMITH: Thanks to Jeff
and the team, Hubble went from

turkey to triumph.

-Some of these
images are almost
biblical in their intensity.

They still give me goosebumps
when I look at them.

So many different forms
and colors, it looks like the
work of some psychedelic artist

but it's the universe
that we live in.

I mean, it's extraordinary.

WILL SMITH: The work
on Hubble meant we could
capture the exact moment

when a star like
the sun dies.

♪ ♪

-Around five billion
years from now, the sun
is going to grow in size,

swallowing up the earth.

And in those final moments,
all matter on our planet,

all traces of life...

will be torn apart as the
Earth is enveloped by the sun.

When I came back on Earth
and looked up at the sun,

it looked the way
it had always looked
before except I knew

that I had seen it
like it really was.

It's like seeing somebody's
true nature very briefly when

they let their guard down and
then you never see that again.

CHRIS: Earth's
protected us from the
sun for billions of years.

It's been one of the main
reasons that life has been

able to thrive here
on the surface.

JERRY: As a
biological creature we
need the Earth to protect us

and these shields
provide sort of a blanket over
us to just keep us secure

and sort of carefree
on the planet.

-Were we just lucky
that all these things
happened to be in place?

Well, of course if they
weren't in place, we wouldn't

be here and I wouldn't
be talking about this.

WILL SMITH: Next time you
take a walk outside when the

sun is high in the sky...

take a moment and think
about the iron churning at the

Earth's core, the oxygen
bubbling out from under the sea,

the rain crashing onto
the rocks, all these things

that came before us and made
this world possible, those

chance events,
those planetary systems
that allow our little

moat dust
survivve in a sunbeam.

You, me and everyone we know,
we're lucky, lucky to get as

far as we have and
lucky to be here now.

But this is not the
end of the story.

What's up?
How are you doing?

Next time how all life
on Earth got started.

And let me tell you,
that takes strange to
a whole new level.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.