All language subtitles for The.UnXplained.Special.Presentation.S01E14.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
An incredible discovery

buried deep
beneath the lunar surface.

An ancient cataclysm

that changed
the planet Mars forever.

And thousands
of Earth-like worlds

that hold the potential for life

elsewhere in the universe.

It's fascinating to think about
what lies in outer space.

Just gazing up at the night sky
sparks curiosity and wonder.

For centuries, scientists
and scholars could only imagine

how our solar system works.

But now that technology
offers us a closer look

at the planets around us,

will we be surprised
or even shocked

at what we may soon
find beyond Earth?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

Each fall, the people
of this city gather

along the banks
of the Qiantang River

to see something extraordinary.

A massive wave
that barrels upstream

and keeps surging for miles
and miles up the river.

The wave's rapid speed,

loud roaring sound,
and white crests

have earned it
a fitting nickname:

the Silver Dragon.

A hundred miles
southwest of Shanghai,

every year there is

this really interesting
tidal phenomena that happens,

that's very much
related to the Moon.

The Silver Dragon is

a 30-foot-tall,
25-mile-an-hour wave,

so it draws a massive crowd.

Over 100,000 people

annually come out
to watch this wave,

and people even surf on it.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
It's huge, it comes down
and it can flood to the side

and it's actually
quite dangerous

and people often get
way too close.

TEITEL:
We're used to seeing tides
at beaches on the ocean,

they go in and out,
but it's never this dramatic.

This is an extremely
tangible thing

you can point to and say,

"This is the Moon's effect
on the Earth

happening now as we see it."

MICHIO KAKU:
The gravity of the Moon
lifts the water up

to give you high tide,

and when the Moon passes,
it drops, giving you low tide.

Think of that--
the entire planet Earth's water

being lifted several feet,

and that tremendous
cosmic energy comes

from the gravitational
pull of the Moon.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Today, the process by which
the Moon generates

Earth's ocean tides
is widely understood.

But what is less commonly known

is how the Moon
causes a phenomenon

like the Silver Dragon.

Well, scientists have a name for
this kind of strange occurrence.

It's called a tidal bore.

One of the most
amazing things the Moon does,

from my perspective,
is create tidal bores.

And the way to think about it is

the tide rises the oceans
a certain height,

and if you have
the right combination

of the shape of the connection
of the ocean into a river,

you can actually funnel
all of that height

into a narrow,
extra high, massive wave.

And then that will
run up a gorge or a river.

It's kind
of a fascinating interaction

between Moon, water,
nature and then people,

and what we do
in response to it.

SHATNER:
Tidal Bores are
a striking example

of the power that the Moon
exerts on the Earth.

But according to scientists,

creating tides
is just one of many effects

that the Moon has on our planet.

For instance,
as the Moon circles the Earth,

its gravitational force causes

molten liquids deep within
the Earth's core to swirl--

a process which some experts
refer to as churning.

We now realize that
the orbit of the Moon

creates churning
inside the Earth.

The Moon churns the inside
of the Earth by tidal forces,

causing currents
in the form of electricity,

which creates
the Earth's magnetic field.

We depend upon a magnetic shield

to protect us against
solar flares from the Sun.

And we think that's
where the Moon comes in.

If it wasn't
for the presence of the Moon,

you go outside,
you get a sunburn

within just a matter
of a few minutes.

SHATNER:
A sunburn within a few minutes?

It's enough to make you wonder

what else could happen

if the unimaginable occurred
and the Moon

just disappeared?

One of the questions
I get asked a lot is,

you know, can we survive
without the Moon?

If the Moon suddenly
disappeared, I think not.

The result on Earth
would be catastrophic

and very, very rapid.

The tides would stop working.

The Earth would start
slowing down.

As the Earth slows down,

it can start wobbling
on its axis.

If it wobbles very far,

this would melt
the polar ice caps

and sea levels
would rise radically.

Also, a place like Las Vegas
could be freezing in winter

and yet boiling in summer.

There's all sorts of things

that could cause trouble
for life on Earth.

BRIAN KEATING:
The Moon is sort
of the Earth's bodyguard

because the Moon
has protected us

from asteroid impacts.

All the craters that we see
on the Moon are

the result of impacts
of asteroid fragments.

And all those craters--
they could have been

impacts on Earth.

KAKU:
So we have
this cosmic coincidence--

all the characteristics
to the Moon are just so

that we have life
on the planet Earth.

So, in other words,
we hit the jackpot.

We have this cosmic lottery
and we hit the jackpot,

we got a moon that makes
possible conditions on the Earth

compatible with life.

SHATNER:
The fact that
the Moon is so vital

to life on Earth raises
some intriguing questions.

Such as,
is there something special

about our moon that enables it
to make life on Earth possible?

And if our moon is unique,
what makes it different

from the more than 200
other moons in our solar system?

KEATING:
A moon is just what we call
a natural satellite,

a satellite that's not
human-made

that orbits around a planet.

Other planets--
such as the massive gas planets

like Jupiter and Saturn--
have many, many dozens of moons.

We're the only planet
in the solar system

that has only one moon.

And our moon is, actually,

the fifth largest moon
in the solar system.

It's quite large.

TEITEL:
It's really big
compared to the planet.

It's a very unique setup.

Usually, moons are
significantly smaller,

but our moon is relatively
large compared to our planet.

MIKE BARA:
It's very bizarre.

It's basically
a double-planet system.

The Moon is so big and so close

and there is no other example

anywhere in the observable
universe like this.

LYNN PICKNETT:
Because it's so big
and it has so many effects

on the Earth,
the Moon is always fascinating.

There's something
inherently amazing

and mesmerizing about how big

and how powerful it is.

I mean, there it is,
hanging in our skies,

this extraordinary
spherical object,

just this amazing orb
in the sky.

SHATNER:
Scientists have observed

that there is
another strange aspect

of the Moon's dimensions.

It is precisely the right size
and distance from the Sun

to occasionally create
a total solar eclipse.

If you look at the Moon
and you look at the Sun,

the Sun is actually 400 times
the diameter of the Moon,

but the Moon happens to be
400 times closer to the Earth.

This means
that the Sun and the Moon

look as if they're
the same size in the sky.

That means that when the Moon
goes in front of the Sun,

it totally blocks off the Sun.

I've been very lucky,

and I've seen
two total eclipses of the Sun,

and they are magical.

They literally
blew my socks off.

BARA:
The fact is, the Moon
is exactly the right size

and exactly the right distance
from the Earth

to create
perfect solar eclipses.

Some people think
that's a coincidence.

I don't think
it's a coincidence.

There has to be
something very special

and very mysterious
about the Moon itself.

SHATNER:
The unique size relationship
between the Moon and Earth

may help explain
why the Moon has

such a strong impact
on our planet.

Could even more
intriguing secrets lie

not just on the lunar surface

but deep inside the Moon itself?

SHATNER:
A group of scientists
publish the results

of a remarkable study
on the Moon.

By analyzing information
collected by NASA space probes,

the team discovered
that an enormous mass of metal

is buried beneath
the surface of the Moon.

This mysterious mass
is 1,200 miles in diameter

and, because it's hidden
deep underground,

before this paper was published,

scientists had no idea
the metal was there.

KAKU:
What happened is
we have satellites

that go around the Moon,

and it turns out

that the gravitational pull
increased,

indicating the presence

of a massive, dense object

underneath the surface
of the Moon.

KEATING:
According to the scientists
who made this discovery,

it's made of metals,
very dense, very heavy metals

like iron, cobalt, nickel,

which are also highly magnetic.

ADERIN-POCOCK:
Now, the question is
how did it get there?

How did this blob of iron
get to the moon?

There were sort of a few
theories afoot,

but I think
the one that makes most sense

is that it was
an asteroid strike.

And it seems quite likely
that a metal asteroid

came and hit the moon's surface
with huge impact.

It sort of melted
into the moon's surface,

and then magma
from the moon covered it over,

so that's why we hadn't
discovered it before.

SHATNER:
One reason why the discovery
of metal on the Moon

came as such a surprise
is because it's easy

to assume that we already know

most of what there is
to know about the Moon.

After all,
we've photographed it,

studied it, and sent astronauts
to walk on its surface.

But despite everything
we've learned,

the Moon still holds
many secrets.

The Moon is so fascinating
because it's mysterious.

It's close to us and yet
it's very inscrutable.

There are places and parts
of the Moon

we know almost nothing about

that are completely
unexplored and unexplained.

There's so many mysteries about
our nearest celestial neighbor.

For example,
what's inside the moon?

What's on the far side
of the Moon?

It's amazing
that we've sent space probes

to Saturn, Jupiter,
Uranus, Neptune,

even past Pluto.

And yet there's so many things
we don't know about the Moon.

SHATNER: The detection
of metal on the Moon

was followed by an even more
extraordinary discovery.

In October of 2020,
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory

for Infrared Astronomy
announced that they had detected

water on the sunlit surface
of the Moon.

And in other studies,

scientists have found
evidence of ice

on the north pole of the Moon.

ADERIN-POCOCK:
Many people assumed
that the moon was dry.

And looking at the environment,
it wasn't so surprising

that they sort of
concluded this.

But one thing
we have got confirmation of

is large volumes of frozen water

in these craters,
which never see sunlight.

These craters are
some of the coldest places

in the solar system.

And so substances
like water can condense.

DENNIN: When you look
at the water on the moon,

there's a shockingly
large amount of water

compared to what we think of it.

Now, it's water
in frozen form, it's ice.

But it still was fascinating
just to know

that there was something
we were wrong about the moon.

SHATNER:
As a result of these findings,
scientists have been compelled

to reexamine the belief
that the Moon is inert.

And to ask whether
it can harbor life.

Whether or not
we can have life on the Moon,

that's, of course,
a big question mark.

Today, when you think
of the Moon,

you think
of a lifeless environment.

But that's not always true.

We think that
in the early days of the Moon,

perhaps there was a thicker
atmosphere to the Moon,

and that's what's required
to create life on a planet.

So, if we drill
deep into the lunar soil,

perhaps we'll pick up evidence

of ancient microbial life
that existed

billions of years ago,

when the atmosphere was
quite different on the Moon.

SHATNER: Was the Moon
a place in which life

could actually thrive
in the distant past?

Well, according
to some researchers,

there is photographic evidence

not only of life on the Moon,

but of something

much more profound.

NASA launches Ranger 7,

a lunar probe designed to take

the first close-up photographs
of the lunar surface.

The landmark images
fascinated the world.

And since that time,
other nations have sent probes

to capture more images
of the Moon.

Over the years,
researchers have identified

strange anomalies
in these photographs.

Anomalies that look
an awful lot like...

artificial structures.

BARA:
In one picture, you see
a rectangular structure

with some structure on top of it

that looks almost like
the spires of a roof,

as if there was a glass dome
over this at one time

that has a few girders left
that used to hold it up.

Now, there's nothing
in natural lunar geology

that can account for that

as a real extant possibility
on the surface of the Moon.

And in another image taken
is a gigantic spire or tower.

It almost looks exactly like
a gigantic Egyptian obelisk.

The way this thing
is sticking up

simply defies explanation.

The fact that it even exists
in the image

is absolute de facto proof

that there is ancient
extraterrestrial technology

on the lunar surface.

SHATNER:
Giant structures

left behind by an
extraterrestrial civilization?

It's certainly
a provocative theory,

and one that is hard to prove.

But if these anomalies

are the ruins
of an advanced civilization,

is it possible

they were intentionally
left there for us to find?

KEATING:
The Moon has properties
that make it ideal

for conducting research
into the deep past

and even, potentially,
very speculatively,

uh, for the presence of, uh,

potentially finding
alien artifacts,

which is
a very fascinating prospect,

that an alien civilization
might want to leave a marker,

a time capsule, attesting to
their existence for us to find.

And it would be perfectly
preserved for billions of years.

SHATNER:
Could there really be
artificial structures

and time capsules
from an unknown civilization

left on the Moon?

And if so,
what could have happened

that would cause
these inhabitants

to disappear?

Perhaps clues can be found

by examining
another celestial neighbor,

one whose surface
bears the markings

of a cataclysmic event
with the power

to wipe out life as we know it.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
The United Arab Emirates

becomes the first Arab nation
to send a space vehicle

to the Red Planet.

The state-of-the-art satellite
named Hope

will spend two years
collecting information

on how sunlight,
dust and temperature

have affected the Martian
atmosphere in the past

and present.

Astronomers hope this mission
will bring answers

to one of the most enduring
mysteries of Mars:

how did it become
the Red Planet?

When you look at Mars tonight
in the night sky, for example,

you see this red dot.

Why red?

Ferric oxide.

It's the rusty planet.

It's iron rust.

But it wasn't always that way.

Billions of years ago,

it was very similar to what
the Earth looks like today.

The data coming
from the Hope weather satellite

could be essential
for us to piece together

this jigsaw puzzle.

We had a lush planet,

a blue planet teeming
with the possibilities of life.

And then we have this dead,
barren planet of today.

What happened in between?

SHATNER:
Scientists have theorized
that Mars was changed

by some kind of massive
cataclysm in the distant past,

causing it to become barren
and lifeless.

But it's well-known
that Earth has endured

numerous global catastrophes,

and our planet
is still teeming with life.

So, what was different
about Mars?

KAKU:
Natural disasters happen

rather regularly
on the planet Earth.

We have volcanic activity,

gigantic earthquakes,

meteor impacts
blanketing out the Sun,

collapsing agriculture,
causing chaos.

So, in other words,
planet-killing events.

-(insects trilling)
-But we are here.

-(birdsong)
-The Earth is teeming with life.

And Mars turned out to be
a dead planet.

We don't know for sure,

but we think the culprit is

Mars has a very low
atmospheric density--

only one percent
the atmospheric density

found on the planet Earth.

KIRSTEN SIEBACH:
Mars once had
that dense atmosphere.

But somewhere
around three billion years ago,

that atmosphere
was stripped away.

And as the atmosphere thinned,

liquid water became
less and less stable

and would have evaporated.

So, if there was life on Mars,

it lost one of the key
ingredients for habitability.

ROBERT SCHOCH:
We think the atmosphere on Mars

was initially eroded by impact,

that is, meteorites, asteroids.

Physical impactors
on the Martian surface

stripped away
the atmosphere of Mars.

TAYLOR:
When you look at Mars,
you realize

that the northern hemisphere
looks more like plains,

and it's very flat.

But the southern hemisphere
of Mars is heavily cratered,

and that suggests that there
were a lot of impacts there

that could actually have
destroyed the atmosphere

and everything else on Mars.

KAKU:
Without the atmosphere

to preserve the integrity
of the planet,

as the solar wind
from the Sun hits Mars,

water would boil by itself,

would vaporize by itself

and be lost into outer space.

And as a consequence,

liquid water cannot remain
liquid on the surface of Mars.

SHATNER:
Did ancient asteroid impacts
destroy the atmosphere of Mars?

Perhaps.

But some scientists suggest

there was an even more powerful
disaster that was responsible.

And as evidence,
they point to a curious feature

of the planet's surface
known as the Valles Marineris

or, as many like to call it,

the scar on Mars.

TAYLOR:
Valles Marineris looks as if

something just gouged out
of the surface of Mars,

and the question is
did it occur naturally?

Because we don't really
understand what happened.

SCHOCH:
One theory that
I've been exploring recently

is that the Sun
has major solar outbursts

that spread out
throughout the solar system

traveling at very high speeds.

Plasma, electrically
charged particles,

protons, electrons,
other charged ions,

and when these hit planets,

you can imagine them
as huge lightning bolts

hitting the surface
of the planet.

And this can gouge out
what look like canyons.

And this may have been
a major contributing factor

to the loss of the atmosphere.

KAKU:
We have lots of theories
as to the geologic

and atmospheric profile of Mars,

but, to be certain,
we have to go there

and actually touch and feel
and analyze these things.

From a distance,
from millions of miles away,

we can only speculate
about what could be causing

these unexplained
surface features on Mars.

Asteroid impacts, solar winds,

and a scar six miles deep.

Despite its hostile environment,

Mars is destined to be explored
by humans one day.

But astronauts
may want to be careful,

because there is evidence
that an object

orbiting Mars may not be
what it seems.

Its name is Phobos,
the Greek word for fear.

And some believe
that it's not a moon,

it's a machine.

SHATNER:
140 million miles from Earth.

After a perilous five-month
journey through space,

NASA's Perseverance rover
gently lands

on the planet Mars.

A big part
of our interest in Mars

has always been
looking for life.

Whether it's some kind of small
fossilized life in the rocks

or biochemical signatures
in the soil

that prove that there
might have been life

on that planet
at one time in its history.

SHATNER:
Ever since the NASA
spacecraft Mariner 4

made the first flyby
of Mars in 1964,

more than 40 additional missions
have been launched

to search the Red Planet for
signs of extraterrestrial life.

But some researchers claim that,

if Mars is indeed
harboring life,

we won't find it
on the planet itself.

Instead, they believe
there is evidence

of an extraterrestrial
intelligence

on a Martian moon
that is known as Phobos.

Phobos is just plain weird.

It's only about
seven miles in radius,

which is, uh, very, very small.

And it's a really bizarre
and surreal looking shape.

It's all sorts of odd angles,

a mixture of sharp
and curved edges,

a real jumble.

HAAS:
In the 1950s,

a Soviet Union astrophysicist,

Joseph Shklovsky,

noticed that Phobos
may not be a moon at all,

and he was approached
by Carl Sagan in the 1960s.

The two of them worked
on a book together,

Intelligent Life
in the Universe.

And in that book, they both
talk about Phobos possibly being

an artificial structure.

TAYLOR:
In 1998,
the Mars Global Surveyor

took a picture of Phobos
that has this strange

three-dimensional cubic-looking
monolith structure on it.

And geologists
have looked at it,

and they can't quite explain it,

although they come up
with some theories.

But there's no real explanation
as to why it's there

and what its purpose is
or how it was formed.

That's really intriguing.
What is it?

HAAS:
NASA scientists claim
that this monolith

is the result of a crumbled rock

that fell from
a-a nearby mountain ridge.

There's no such
surface feature in the area.

The surface of Phobos
is very smooth,

which was vindicated
in later images

taken by the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter.

It's very shiny,
very flat surface.

It's littered
with small craters,

and there's no
surface features sticking up.

There's no mountains,
there's no ridges,

and we have this weird obelisk
sticking out of the ground,

which doesn't belong there.

MARC D'ANTONIO:
In looking at
the monolith on Phobos,

we can't tell whether
it's a perfectly square object

or it's just
a rocky protuberance,

but it is seemingly out of place
on what looks like

the smooth surface of this moon.

That means
it might be artificial.

SHATNER:
Could the Phobos monolith

really be
an artificial structure

built by extraterrestrials?

Some researchers think so,
and for further evidence,

they point
to the fact that Phobos

is mysteriously hollow.

TEITEL:
The European Space Agency's
Mars Express mission

in 2008 explored
Mars' moon Phobos.

Using radar sounder technology,

it found that the moon
isn't actually solid.

There are large subterranean
voids in this body.

KAKU:
We have detailed
photographs of Phobos,

and it turns out that Phobos
has a slightly irregular orbit

that deviates
from Newton's laws of motion,

and this is because of the fact

that it's actually
a hollow moon.

So, some people say, "Aha,

"maybe it's a piece
of alien technology

in orbit around Mars."

POPE:
When you look at Phobos,

when you look at its
comparatively small size,

odd shape and apparent
partial hollowness,

Phobos could be
not a natural satellite

but an artificial satellite,

perhaps put there by
an extraterrestrial civilization

to hide some sort
of monitoring device,

listening station,
whatever you call it.

SHATNER:
There are those who believe
that the best evidence

that Phobos is an
extraterrestrial outpost

was an incident
that occurred in 1989,

when a Soviet satellite
known as Phobos 2

was sent to investigate the moon

and it mysteriously vanished.

TAYLOR:
In 1989,

the Russians sent the Phobos 1
and 2 probes to Phobos.

And when it got there,

Phobos 2
took a couple of photos,

sent them back,

and then it quit working.
It disappeared.

We don't know
what happened to it,

but one of the images
is really strange.

There's a cigar-shaped thing
in the middle of the image.

And I find that
quite interesting

that a lot of the UFO sightings
are cigar-shaped objects.

Is that just a coincidence?
I don't know.

HAAS:
Some people speculate
that there's some type

of defensive mechanism
on the moon

that was defending itself
against approaching spacecraft.

And when this probe
approached Phobos,

it was activated,

and it destroyed the probe.

SHATNER:
Officially, the loss of Phobos 2

was blamed on a malfunction
of the onboard computer.

But the authorities never
came up with a good explanation

for the strange,
cigar-shaped object.

And it makes you wonder:

was Phobos 2 actually shot down,

as some believe?

POPE:
If Phobos really is some sort
of extraterrestrial artifact,

is it something that's been
put there from a civilization

that's come from much
further away as a sentinel?

We can't rule out
the possibility,

and there's no getting away from
the fact that Phobos 2 was lost.

SHATNER:
Could a Martian moon really be
an artificial structure?

It sounds like something

straight from
a science fiction movie,

and yet,

how do we explain
the strange anomalies

that Phobos exhibits?

Well, let's hope
future explorations

don't get lost in space,

especially if they involve
manned missions to Mars.

NASA announces a series
of bold new technologies

they are actively developing
to help astronauts

eventually reach Mars,

including cutting-edge
propulsion systems,

next generation spacesuits,

and nuclear fission generators.

This is such an exciting time
to be working on Mars.

There is unprecedented interest.

There are more government
space agencies

and scientists around the world

working towards
space exploration

than there have
ever been before.

We have new rockets,
different instruments,

and we're at a time when
technology is getting closer

to sending people to Mars.

It's-it's really fun.

It's really exciting.

SHATNER:
In addition to NASA,

numerous space agencies
from around the world have also

stepped up their efforts
to send people to Mars.

There are many who believe
that this increase in activity

echoes the space race
from the 1960s,

when humanity strived
to land men on the Moon

for the first time.

ROD PYLE:
July 20, 1969,
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon,

and this is one of the proudest
moments in human history.

NEIL ARMSTRONG:
That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

Two men down on the surface,

600 million people watching
around the world,

more listening to their radios,
people can barely believe it.

They stayed
on the Moon's surface for a day,

they achieved all their goals.

And it was just
a watershed moment

in Western civilization.

(applause, cheering
and whistling)

And the next big question is,
"What are we gonna do

after the Apollo landings?"

Wernher Von Braun,
the famed rocket scientist

of German origins, published
a book called The Mars Project,

where he actually laid out
the first real,

technically-accurate
engineering plan

on how we could do this.

And they wanted to do it
by the mid-1980s.

But by the time Richard Nixon
came into office,

we realized it was gonna
be a much bigger job

to send humans to Mars
than we thought.

But we continued
to think about it,

and it continues today.

We want to go beyond, to Mars,

and find out what's happening
on that world, because

a human being can do
in about 15 minutes

what it takes a robot
six months to do.

So you have to send people.

SHATNER: It's not just NASA
and other space agencies

that have their sights set
on Mars.

Ordinary people
are also quite eager

to travel to the Red Planet.

In fact, when it was announced
in March of 2020

that NASA would begin recruiting
a new generation of astronauts

for its first-ever
manned mission to Mars,

200,000 people
submitted applications.

RICHARD ZARE:
I think it's the nature
of human beings

to try to expand further.

There's a sense of exploration,
of being an explorer,

of being the first
to go somewhere,

and that really motivates
a lot of people.

This is a great time
in space exploration.

SIEBACH: We're at a time
when we have pictures

of Mars in our living rooms.

We have pictures of Mars
on our computer screens.

We're seeing that... that, yes,

we can reach out to Mars.

We can see it. We can touch it.
We're so close.

And that's really exciting
to see.

SETH SHOSTAK:
When are we gonna go to Mars?

I get that question a lot.

You know, people who are
in the rocket business say,

"Well, certainly,
within ten years,

we could send somebody
to the Red Planet."

And you might say,
"But why do that?"

Right? It's dangerous.

Getting them there,
bringing them back.

There are all sorts
of technical problems,

not the least of which
is the fact

that the Sun occasionally burps
high-speed particles into space,

and those particles would zip
right through the skin

of any rocket,

and give everybody inside
instant cancer,

that kind of thing.

I mean, these are...
these are serious problems.

SHATNER:
Why are so many people

willing to put
their life on the line

for a perilous journey to Mars?

Well, there are those
who believe

that we are motivated
to go to Mars

because there
is a profound connection

between humans
and the Red Planet.

And that evidence
of this connection can be found

in the human body.

TAYLOR:
The human body produces
good fat and bad fat.

And the good fat, it turns out,
we produce more of,

if we're held at an average
temperature of 67 degrees,

or a little bit lower
than that on a regular basis.

I find that
an interesting correlation

that the temperature
in the summertime on Mars

is 67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Does that suggest
that humanity is more suited

to be healthy on Mars
than they are on Earth?

I don't know.

There are other aspects of Mars

that is interesting
with the human physiology.

When astronauts spend a long
period of time in micro gravity,

their internal
biorhythm clock resets.

Not to a day that's
as long as a day on Earth,

but in fact it resets precisely

to the time a day is on Mars,

which is a little bit different
by a few minutes.

Why does this happen?

Is it telling us
that there's something

in our DNA, in our genetic code

that is more suitable for Mars
than it is for Earth?

We don't know,
but that is a possibility.

SHATNER: Astronomers
from the University of Geneva

announce an incredible discovery

in the pages
of the journal Nature.

They reveal
that by analyzing slight changes

in the light generated
by the distant star

known as 51 Pegasi,

they were able
to confirm the existence

of an exoplanet around
another star in our galaxy

for the very first time.

An exoplanet is just a planet
around somebody else's star.

It's not orbiting the Sun.

Before 1995,
we thought there might be

a lot of planets out there,
but we didn't know it.

And since then,
there are a lot of exoplanets

that have been found,
in fact, thousands of them.

That's a lot of planets.

KAKU:
Right now, we have catalogued

about 5,000 exoplanets

orbiting other stars,
and that's just

in our own vicinity
of the Milky Way galaxy.

And we have encyclopedias
documenting the size

and the characteristics
of these planets.

Every day we discover
a new planet out there

that, potentially,
could carry life.

SHATNER:
Since it's true that our galaxy
is teeming with planets,

could some of them be
home to extraterrestrial life?

According to astronomers,

the answer is yes.

And they claim that these
planets can be found

in what is known
as the Goldilocks zone.

COUGHLIN:
In terms of the Goldilocks zone,
that's the right distance

from the star where you're not
too hot and you're not too cold.

You're just right.

If you're on the Goldilocks
zone, you can have liquid water

on your surface
without it freezing

or without it boiling off.

And where there's liquid water,

there could be life.

SHOSTAK:
Earth is obviously

in the Goldilocks zone
for the Sun.

Those are the kind
of planets you want to find.

Because you probably
need water for life.

And, thanks to telescopes,
we know

that every second or third star

has at least one planet,
more or less the same size

as our own,
in the Goldilocks zone.

SHATNER:
Will we ever be able
to prove that planets located

in the Goldilocks zone are,
in fact,

home to other life-forms?

Well, some scientists believe

that we may soon find out.

Today is a historic day.

SHATNER:
At an event at the White House,

President Joe Biden unveils
the first image taken

by NASA's James Webb
space telescope.

BIDEN: It's a new window into
the history of our universe.

We can see light
from the oldest galaxies,

the oldest documented light
in the history of the universe,

from over 13 billion years ago.

SHATNER:
The ten billion-dollar
instrument

is armed with the most powerful

infrared imaging technology
ever created.

And what's even more remarkable

is that the telescope
was specifically designed

to analyze planets that lie

in the Goldilocks zone

for evidence of life.

SHOSTAK:
The James Webb Telescope--

it's an infrared telescope,
so it's sensitive to heat.

But that's really
not the big deal.

The big deal
is that it can look,

for example, at a planet
around another star

and actually see it.

It might only look
like a dot on a photo,

but you take the light
from that dot,

put it through a prism,

and you could tell what's in
the atmosphere of that planet.

The James Webb Space Telescope
is like a magnifying glass.

It's gonna look
in extreme detail.

And the great thing is,
for the first time,

we can actually start
to study the atmospheres

of Earth-size planets.

If we look at a planet
and we can see chemicals

that we know don't occur
naturally in its atmosphere,

that's a really good indication
that they're produced

by industrial processes.

So if we see those
in an exoplanet,

that's a good sign
that they're produced

by some alien industry.

It tells you there's very likely

an intelligent civilization
like our own

on that planet
producing those chemicals.

KAKU:
Given the fact that we have
now the Webb Telescope

up there giving us
even more information,

given the fact
that we keep on cataloging more

and more exoplanets,
we are now flooded

with information about potential
life-forms in the galaxy.

Perhaps even intelligent life.

And so this is a game changer.

Since the James Webb
Space Telescope was launched,

its ability to capture images
of far-off galaxies

is nothing short of miraculous.

Which makes you wonder

what other mysteries

are there to discover
beyond Earth?

Will we colonize the Moon?

Construct a base on Mars?

Or finally identify a planet

that harbors evidence
of life itself?

The possibilities seem as vast

as the universe and, for now,

remain...

unexplained.

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