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Right now, that rover, Perseverance,

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is 200 million miles away,
on the surface of Mars.

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It's on the floor of Jezero Crater,
and it's taking the images

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and collecting the samples
that might tell us

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whether life ever existed
on the Red Planet.

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Jezero Crater is one of the most
important and enigmatic sites

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in the solar system.

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Around 3.8 billion years ago

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it was filled with a lake.

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But that lake is long gone.

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Mars has become
a dry and barren world.

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Today, Perseverance
and the Ingenuity helicopter

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are searching the crater
for signs of the life

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that may once have lived there.

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What they find could transform our
understanding of life -

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on Earth and throughout
the universe.

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It is certainly the most
audacious mission

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ever sent to the surface
of another world.

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TDL, this is mission.
I have you five by five. How read?

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I have you five by, as well.

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This is a crucial
seven days for the rover...

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..and I've been given extraordinary
access to the Perseverance mission.

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I'll be following the rover's
every move

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as it attempts to travel further
and faster than ever before.

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Through its cameras,

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we'll show you what it's like
to stand on...

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..and explore the surface
of another world.

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This week, we'll see the Red Planet

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as no-one has seen it before.

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This is Nasa's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

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4,800 Oak Grove Drive,
Pasadena, California.

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From the 1960s onwards,
it's been the control centre

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for Nasa's pioneering
deep space missions,

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and now it's the headquarters
for the hundreds of scientists

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and engineers who make
up the Perseverance team.

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JPL is a really special place for me
because, way back in 1980,

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I wrote to them because
I was interested

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in the exploration of the planets,
and they wrote back!

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And this is it.

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Imagine the excitement
when this brown envelope arrived

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from California, filled with images
of the solar system,

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the moons of Jupiter,
and the rings of Saturn.

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This is one of the reasons
I became a physicist.

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Well, now, 40 years later,

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I'm actually at JPL
because, as I speak,

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there is a rover roving
across the Martian surface -

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the first mission dedicated
to the search for life on Mars.

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And this week,
we have unique access,

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not only to Mission Control,

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but also to the navigators who are
plotting the path

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of Perseverance around the boulders

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and the mountains of Mars.

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And we're also going to see
the photographs,

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the data come down in real time.

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We're going to learn things
about Mars that nobody

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has ever known before.

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Can't wait.

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Just over a year ago,
the world held its breath

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as the Perseverance rover...

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..the flagship of
the Mars 2020 mission,

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made its final approach
towards Mars.

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After seven years of development

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and a six-month journey,

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no-one knew if
the 2.7 billion dollar rover

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would make it safely
onto the surface.

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Since then, Perseverance
has been exploring the area

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around its landing site
in Jezero Crater,

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sending back
the most extraordinary images.

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With the exception of
the occasional animation,

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every image of Mars
in this programme

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has been captured by the cameras
on Perseverance,

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or the other spacecraft around Mars.

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Perseverance's mission is to search
for signs of long-extinct life.

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What it discovers

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could answer one of the great
existential questions...

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..are we alone in the universe?

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This is JPL's Space Flight
Operations Facility

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or, better, Mission Control.

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And this room is iconic for anyone
that's into space flight,

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because this is the room
in which all those dramatic moments

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that we all remember happened.

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The dive of Cassini
into Saturn,

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the landing of Curiosity,

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and Perseverance on Mars.

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They're talking now to
the solar system,

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anything that's out there.

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This is where all the data comes
down from the Perseverance Rover.

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TDL, this is five by,
I have you five by.

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I have you five by, as well.

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This morning, the crew
in Mission Control are waiting

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to hear from Perseverance,

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which is currently 200 million miles
away on the surface of Mars.

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To find out how communication works
across such vast distances,

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I've come to see Rick Welch.

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So this room, sometimes, we call
the centre of the universe.

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This is where all the data comes
to this facility

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from all our spacecraft out
in the solar system.

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So you can see up on the
screen the different antenna.

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We actually have antennas at three
locations around the Earth,

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which allow us to really look out
and see spacecraft, no matter

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what planet they happen to be at.

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How does that work?

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Because Mars is... What is it?
About 200 million miles away,

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give or take, at the moment.

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Right now, as you said, we're about
300 million kilometres away,

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and it's probably about 16 minutes
to get our signal

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all the way to Mars, one way.

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So compare that to the moon.
It only takes a couple of seconds

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for a signal to get back and forth
to the moon.

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So even when we had
astronauts there,

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it seemed like we could talk back
and forth in real time.

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You know, 16 minutes is really
too long to do any kind

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of real-time communication.

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This delay in communication
between Earth and Mars

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determines so much of how
the mission operates.

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Because the team are unable
to control the rover in real time,

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they must compile detailed sets
of instructions to send

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to Perseverance every day.

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So the scientists and engineers
here on Earth

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spend about eight hours deciding
the next things for the rover to do,

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and building the commands. We then
send that up in the Martian morning.

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The rover is on its own to execute
those the best it can.

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And then we hear back in
the Martian afternoon

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what actually happened on Mars.

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Oh, so that says,
"Next UHF two hours."

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So is that... is that what that
means? That's right.

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So we're very interested
in getting our downlink today to see

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how the rover is doing.

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And that will be arriving
here in about two hours.

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While the crew in
Mission Control wait...

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..Perseverance is uploading its
latest data

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to one of several spacecraft
in orbit around Mars.

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That spacecraft will relay the data
back to Earth in two hours' time...

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..which gives me time to explore
the JPL campus.

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JPL is set in a beautiful location
in the mountains around Pasadena.

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It's about ten miles
from Los Angeles.

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And there's a reason that it's here,

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isolated, because it began life
as a rocket test facility.

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And the thing about rockets
when you're testing them,

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is that sometimes they explode.

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But in the 1950s, this became
the centre of America's exploration

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of the solar system and beyond,
and the first American satellite,

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Explorer 1, was built
and controlled from here,

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as were all those things
I grew up with -

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Voyager, Cassini, and now,
the latest, Perseverance.

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And in here, in the Mars yard,
we're going to meet its twin.

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This is Optimism.

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Engineers like their acronyms,
so that actually stands

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for Operational Perseverance Twin
with the Integration of Mechanisms

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and Instruments Sent to Mars.

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But it is, in every important
way, an exact engineering replica

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of Perseverance.

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There are a few things missing.

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For instance, on Earth, it's not
safe for the rover to be powered

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by nuclear battery, so instead
it's plugged into the mains.

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But, for example, it has exactly
the same

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flight computers as Perseverance.

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So if they want to upload
new software, then they upload

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it to that first, and test it
to make sure it works.

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And it's quite an imposing
thing, isn't it?

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It's bigger than I thought.

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Weighing over a ton on Earth, and
standing just over two metres tall,

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the rover is a beast.

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And it's packed with instruments
designed to scrutinise

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the Martian surface.

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Among them are 19 cameras,
more than any other spacecraft.

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Five are mounted at the top of
the mast

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to give a human-like
eye-level view

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of the Martian landscape.

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Lower down, cameras focus
on the area in front of the rover...

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..where the robot arm is deployed
to study and sample the surface,

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looking for signs of life.

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In just over a year, the rover's
cameras have sent

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over 200,000 images back to Earth.

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This morning, the latest batch
of photos

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are just about to arrive at JPL...

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..and I'm going to look at them
with the leader of the science team,

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Ken Farley.

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So here we have one of the images
that just came down from Mars today,

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and it's a great landscape looking
off to the north and east

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in Jezero Crater.

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Yeah. And do you still get excited
by the idea that nobody's ever seen

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this planet from this angle before?
It's completely new data.

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How could you not?
I mean, this is just...

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I love it. This is... Every day,
to be able to take in a landscape

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like this and be surprised
by things that we see.

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Still exciting to see it every day.

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Can you describe what we're seeing
in this image? In the foreground,

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you see the area that we've been
exploring for most of the last year.

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That's the crater floor.

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And then the thing that just
captures everybody's attention,

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including mine, is the delta.

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And the delta is very distinctive
and it's got a flat top.

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You can see the flat top
on the left side. Yeah.

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That's about 40 metres high.

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The delta is the most important
feature in Jezero Crater,

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and it's the reason Perseverance
was sent here.

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It was formed at the mouth
of a river that flowed into the lake

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that once filled the crater.

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The delta's layers of
sedimentary rock

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are thought to be the most likely
place to find evidence

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of the life that may once
have lived on Mars.

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And it's where the rover
is headed to next.

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We are just about to embark
on about a five-kilometre drive

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to get to the Delta. We would love
to just go straight there.

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It's only about two kilometres,
two and a half kilometres

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as the crow flies. But there are
boulders in the foreground

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and, in the middle distance, that
you can't easily see in this image,

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there are sand dunes, so we have to
go all the way around

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to get there.

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You don't want to get stuck.

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We absolutely do not want
to get stuck. That would be bad.

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Well, we've arrived at an extremely
exciting time

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for Perseverance on Mars.

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For the last year, it's been
exploring this region around here,

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but now it's going to set
off to its primary target,

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here in the ancient river delta.

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Now, it can't, or they don't want
to, take the direct route,

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because that would be through
this rocky dune field.

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It would take a long time, might
even be dangerous for the rover.

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And so what will be happening this
week is it's going to head off

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about, hopefully, 200 or 300 metres
a day

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driving in this direction.

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And then, by the end of the week -

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I really am looking forward
to this -

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it's going to thread its way,
we think, around the side

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of this crater. It looks quite nasty
from the air, but they say

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that it's certainly passable.

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And so, if we're lucky, then
Perseverance will be around here,

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at the end of our week here at JPL.

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Over the next week, I'll follow
the rover's every move as it starts

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the most important drive
of its mission so far.

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To cover the 1,200 metres

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to La Orotava crater in just
seven days,

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the rover will need to break
all distance and driving records.

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No rover has gone so far
across the surface of another planet

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in such a short space of time.

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We're hoping that journey will
start today,

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but first we need to be sure

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the rover is ready to move on.

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This is where it happens.

242
00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,440
So Rick is taking me to the daily
briefing meeting,

243
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:18,440
on the rover operations floor.

244
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,880
Coming in to
the Perseverance Operation Facility,

245
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,160
we have this great selfie
of the rover,

246
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:25,920
which is awesome to see.

247
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:28,840
And this picture is actually taken

248
00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:30,640
with a camera at the end
of the robotic arm.

249
00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,800
So if you were the rover, it's
taking over 50 different pictures

250
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,960
to actually build this mosaic.

251
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,600
I remember one of your engineers
actually saying that it behaved

252
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,240
like one of his teenagers would,

253
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,400
because it landed and the first
thing it did was take a selfie.

254
00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:46,920
Exactly. Exactly.

255
00:16:55,240 --> 00:17:00,000
This maze of rooms is the beating
heart of the mission.

256
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,800
It's usually strictly off-limits
to outsiders,

257
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,320
but today I've been given special
clearance to join the team inside.

258
00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,520
So this is one of our big
operations room.

259
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,920
We call this the
Mission Support Area or MSA.

260
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,360
And this is where our data comes.

261
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,000
Our tactical downlink lead
today is Keith.

262
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,480
He's actually checking
in with all the team members,

263
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,480
all our engineering and
science members to make sure

264
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:38,680
they can hear him.

265
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,760
This is the team's chance to check
on the status of the rover,

266
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,320
and this morning it seems
all is not well.

267
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:03,080
Occasionally, we do need to say,
we see some issue with this system.

268
00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,600
And so let's preclude use
of that for tomorrow,

269
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,680
until we have more time
to look at it.

270
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,000
Yeah, I think he said, didn't he,
that the drill had paused.

271
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,400
Monday, we'll be looking...

272
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,680
Before it's even started
its record-breaking drive,

273
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,480
the rover is facing a problem
that could delay its progress.

274
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:21,160
And it stems from this.

275
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,440
The last task in its investigation
of the crater floor was to take

276
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,440
a rock sample from this boulder,

277
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,520
informally known as Sid.

278
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,160
So what have we got?

279
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,440
This is a very interesting image,

280
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,080
because we are trying to take
a core sample of this rock.

281
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,960
And the rock was too hard

282
00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,000
and the coring faulted.

283
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,040
It stopped with the drill
still stuck in the rocks.

284
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:52,480
It's not supposed to be like that.

285
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:54,720
I suppose you don't want to break
a drill bit, right?

286
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,480
That's exactly right. If the rock is
too hard,

287
00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,360
you start to dull the drill bit,

288
00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:02,640
and we have a small number of drill
bits and once they're all dull,

289
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,640
we're not going to be collecting
any more rocks.

290
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,360
So we are very careful not
to push the drill too hard.

291
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:11,920
And while the drill is stuck
in the rock,

292
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,960
the rover can't go anywhere.

293
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,440
This is what it's like on
a rover mission.

294
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,080
Every day, there's something
new that you have to deal with.

295
00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:22,280
So what do you do?
We're asking for a core

296
00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,760
that was about six centimetres long,

297
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,720
and we know it got to five
centimetres before it faulted.

298
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,920
So five centimetres - good enough.

299
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,080
So you don't care about
the extra centimetre.

300
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:33,800
You just want to get that core...
Right.

301
00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,120
We've decided that the best thing
to do was to simply snap

302
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:39,000
off this core from the rock,

303
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,840
and ingest it into the rover
and seal it.

304
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,280
As our first day at JPL ends,
the instructions telling the rover

305
00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,680
to break off the sample
and withdraw the drill,

306
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,400
are sent to the Deep Space Network,
and onwards to Mars.

307
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,800
We won't know if it's been a success
until we return.

308
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,760
Our fascination with Mars
is nothing new.

309
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:26,920
We know now that, in the early years
of the 20th century, this world

310
00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:31,160
was being watched closely
by intelligences greater than man's.

311
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,320
Stories of Martian visitors
were once a staple

312
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:42,760
of cinema and radio.

313
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,400
And at the time, those stories
didn't seem as far-fetched

314
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:48,760
as they do today.

315
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:56,760
Intellects vast cool
and unsympathetic,

316
00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,840
regarded this Earth
with envious eyes,

317
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,520
and slowly and surely
drew their plans against us.

318
00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:11,400
It's hard to believe today,
but a century ago - actually,

319
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,280
as recently as the 1930s -
it was perfectly respectable

320
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,680
to imagine that there was
a civilisation on Mars.

321
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:25,840
Gee-whiz.

322
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,720
Invaders from Mars,
weird, fantastic beings

323
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:34,400
of a superintelligence, ruling
a race of synthetic humans

324
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,280
and pitting them against mankind's
dream to conquer the universe.

325
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,880
They were beings as intelligent
or even more intelligent than us,

326
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,280
staring down at Earth.

327
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,440
This could be the beginning
of the end for the human race.

328
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,600
For what men first thought were
meteors, or the often-ridiculed

329
00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:57,640
flying saucers are, in reality,
the flaming vanguard

330
00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,520
of the invasion from Mars.

331
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:05,400
Even into the 1950s, it was
reasonable to think that Mars

332
00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,240
was covered in vegetation.

333
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,480
And the reason is that until
the space age,

334
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,600
this was the best
photograph we had of Mars.

335
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,640
This is from the 100-inch
telescope at Mount Wilson.

336
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,280
And these dark markings
on the surface, which move around,

337
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,360
actually, or appear to, as the
months pass and the seasons change,

338
00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:29,200
look for all the world
like vegetation.

339
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:36,400
This is a book written by the great
Patrick Moore in the 1950s.

340
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,760
It's titled A Guide to Mars.

341
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,800
And in the chapter called
Life on Mars,

342
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,200
Patrick Moore writes this,

343
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:47,880
"To sum up, there is no reason
to suppose that low forms

344
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,800
"of vegetation may not exist
on Mars,

345
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,960
"whilst there is a great deal
of evidence that they do."

346
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,480
But that changed with the dawn
of the space age.

347
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:14,000
In November 1964, Nasa launched
Mariner 4 towards Mars...

348
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:21,400
..on a mission to return the first
close-up images of the planet.

349
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,400
The spacecraft is flying
toward Mars, about to pass

350
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,840
within 6,000 miles of its surface.

351
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,760
Back at JPL, they waited anxiously
as the data trickled in.

352
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,880
This would be the first
time we'd seen the surface

353
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:42,800
of another planet and, potentially,
signs of extraterrestrial life.

354
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,440
But all that emerged
was a barren, crater-scarred world,

355
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:57,320
with no sign of life
and certainly no Martians.

356
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:13,240
On August 20th 1975, the first
Viking spaceship was launched.

357
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,920
Subsequent missions revealed
the planet

358
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,440
in greater and greater detail,

359
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,800
hinting at a very different past.

360
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,320
By the mid-1970s, the Viking
missions had discovered

361
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,960
great river valleys, proof that
large amounts of water

362
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:38,880
had flowed across
the Martian surface.

363
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,200
To investigate that history
of water,

364
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,800
a string of rovers were sent
to explore the surface.

365
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,400
They discovered a very different
world to the Mars we see today.

366
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,080
There was evidence that,
in the past,

367
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,880
Mars was covered in lakes
and even oceans.

368
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,320
On Earth, we know that wherever we
find water, we find life.

369
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:13,240
This all suggests that even if Mars
is a dead world today,

370
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,480
it may not always have been so.

371
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:21,960
In just 50 years,

372
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,640
we've come full circle, from
Mariner 4 apparently suggesting

373
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,160
that Mars is a dead world,

374
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,800
to believing again that it is
certainly possible

375
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,640
that life may have existed
at some point

376
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,480
in the history of the Red Planet.

377
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,920
And now it's up to Perseverance
to see if that's true.

378
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:11,840
Day two at JPL, and I return
to Mission Control

379
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,440
to see the new data that
Perseverance has sent back.

380
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:23,480
Ken. So, last time we spoke,
the drill bit was stuck in the rock.

381
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,240
So what happened?

382
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:30,320
Well, we have this image of a
beautiful rock in the drill bit.

383
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,400
So now we know, just from this image
alone, that the drill was able

384
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,600
to break off the rock core
and pull out.

385
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:38,680
So that one's been solved.

386
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,800
The sample's safely stowed away.

387
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:42,840
So what's the plan today?

388
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,720
Well, that was the last thing
we had to do to complete

389
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:47,800
the crater floor campaign,

390
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,880
and we are ready to begin
the drive campaign.

391
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:55,240
So the main activity for the next
few weeks is drive, drive, drive.

392
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,680
With the time lost to the drilling
fault, Perseverance will now

393
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,760
have to average 200 metres a day

394
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,080
if it is to reach
La Orotava Crater

395
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:09,680
by the end of the week.

396
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,000
But the pictures from its cameras

397
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,720
showed that it's starting
from a tricky position,

398
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,960
surrounded by a maze of rocks
and sand traps.

399
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,560
To find its way onto clearer ground,

400
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,840
Perseverance is going to need help.

401
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,720
Vandi Verma is head
of the Rover Driving Team.

402
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:35,920
Hello, Vandi.
Hi. Nice to meet you.

403
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,480
So you're about to set off
on the journey, the long journey

404
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:41,760
around to the delta.

405
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,800
So how do you plan the next route?

406
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,720
So we look at the images. So I would
look at these

407
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,960
navigation camera images I took in
the direction we expect to drive.

408
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,360
And we turn these 3D goggles on.

409
00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:59,880
If I put it into stereo
so you can yourself see it...

410
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:02,360
Oh, that really is quite
impressive, actually.

411
00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,600
I can see the surface of Mars coming
out from the screen.

412
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,640
And you can see a curved ripple
here, with the rocks on it.

413
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,360
It's a really good substitute
for standing where the rover is

414
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:15,760
on Mars, and kind of looking
out to see

415
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,600
how you would navigate the terrain.

416
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,240
Using the 3D images, Vandi can begin
to plot Perseverance's route

417
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,320
through the obstacles.

418
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,680
Essentially, we are saying we want
to navigate around this area,

419
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,400
so we are doing the path
so it goes around this.

420
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,400
But we don't want to go over here,

421
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,000
because it's very sandy,
and sand, actually,

422
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:38,960
the wheels don't do very well in.
Ah, yeah.

423
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,240
You can see all the layers
as you start...

424
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,760
In hazardous terrain like this,

425
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,760
the only way the rover can safely
find its way

426
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,720
is by following Vandi's
carefully plotted route.

427
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,680
But this mode of rover driving
is slow.

428
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,520
It's only possible to programme

429
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,240
around 30 metres of driving
each day,

430
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,680
nowhere near enough to cover
the distances required

431
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:05,520
to reach the delta.

432
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,200
So once the rover reaches
safer ground,

433
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,560
Vandi points it in
the right direction

434
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,600
and activates its secret weapon.

435
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,880
So, now we're going to turn
on AutoNav,

436
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:17,640
because the rover will know more
on Mars

437
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:19,160
at that point than we know here.

438
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,560
AutoNav allows the rover to drive
itself across open terrain

439
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,360
where there are fewer obstacles
to avoid,

440
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:38,360
analysing the stereo images
from its cameras in real time

441
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:40,200
to pick a route across the surface.

442
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:50,960
For a demonstration of how it works,

443
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:52,440
I'm back in the Mars yard

444
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,160
to meet the Perseverance
project manager, Jennifer Trosper.

445
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,920
So I was told we have to wear
these coats.

446
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,800
I thought it was for my safety,

447
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,640
but I'm told it's for its safety,
to protect it from me.

448
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:07,160
It is, it is. Static. Yes.

449
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,720
And that's why I'm hooking up
right here, so that I don't zap

450
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,960
any of the electronics.

451
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,600
So, if I were to sit here - and
I can't believe I'm saying this -

452
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,240
but if I sit down, will she
recognise me?

453
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:21,680
Because of how well it's working
on Mars,

454
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,120
I wouldn't expect it to run
over you,

455
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:25,720
but we could give it a try.

456
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:27,400
Let's check it out. Let's have a go.

457
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,160
I love the words that you...
"She should."

458
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:32,600
No, she will.
"What should happen..."

459
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,720
She's... Really, just...

460
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,280
I mean, if I just sit here...

461
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:38,720
All right.

462
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:49,520
As I settle down for this game
of interplanetary chicken,

463
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,360
the first thing that becomes evident
is that Optimism

464
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,560
is more of a tortoise than hare.

465
00:30:55,560 --> 00:31:00,160
This is top speed,
4.2 centimetres a second

466
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,320
or just under one mile
every ten hours.

467
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,720
I'd like to say it's nerve-racking
but, in all honesty,

468
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,520
I could definitely get
out of the way.

469
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,120
As the rover drives forwards,

470
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,680
it's constantly imaging the ground
in front,

471
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:20,240
building a map
of the obstacles that it will

472
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,200
need to avoid - in this case, me.

473
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,160
She's just taking some more images
to update her nav map.

474
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,320
Then she has to decide how to get
around you.

475
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,040
So it should be identifying...

476
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,560
There you go. Looks like she has
identified you as an obstacle

477
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,320
and is choosing to turn.

478
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,320
So it looks like she's not
going to drive over you.

479
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:45,440
It does.

480
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,520
Although the wheels are slightly
resetting towards me.

481
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,040
She's going to make a close pass,
I think.

482
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,040
Oh, excellent.

483
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,920
It's gone straight over the GoPro.

484
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:10,440
HE LAUGHS

485
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,600
So she was very careful with me,

486
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,640
but not so careful with our cameras.

487
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,160
The thing that's impressive
is that nobody's driving.

488
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,440
So even though it doesn't look
like it's driving fast,

489
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:32,000
you've got to remember that she's
driving across unknown terrain,

490
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,360
making her own decisions.

491
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:38,080
And this makes this rover,
Perseverance, by far the fastest

492
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,880
thing we've ever sent to the surface
of any other planet.

493
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:47,080
It's this unique set of skills
that allows the rover to travel

494
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:48,920
200 to 300 metres every day.

495
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,760
And if Perseverance is going to make
it to La Orotava Crater

496
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,240
by the end of the week,
it'll need to go flat out.

497
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,000
At the end of day two, I head back
to the rover operations floor,

498
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,440
where Vandi and the rover driving
team should have finished the plans

499
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,880
for the first stage of that drive.

500
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,960
So when the rover's route
has been planned,

501
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,800
then those instructions have
first of all got to be checked

502
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,480
and amalgamated in with all
the other instructions

503
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,720
to all the instruments on the rover.
So what's the arm going to do?

504
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,520
What are the experiments
going to do?

505
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:29,480
Where are the cameras
going to be looking?

506
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,640
And those sequences, those commands,
are all put together

507
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:34,640
in this meeting, which is called
the cam meeting,

508
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:36,280
the command approval meeting.

509
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,480
And only when everybody's happy,
and all those commands

510
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,760
have been sent to simulators -
twice, actually -

511
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,240
that check that everything's
going to be OK,

512
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,480
can those commands be signed off
and sent to the Deep Space Network,

513
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,640
and onwards to the rover on Mars.

514
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,000
In here, the team are putting
together the final list

515
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,280
of instructions that will
determine exactly

516
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:01,920
what the rover does tomorrow.

517
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,880
There are thousands of lines of code

518
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,360
and each one must be scrutinised.

519
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,200
A single bug in the software
could jeopardise

520
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,240
the carefully plotted drive plan.

521
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,360
What we do after we finish
on this shift is we really celebrate

522
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,200
the effort that everybody put
together, and we actually hit

523
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:27,240
the gong behind me, that we would
love for you to do it today.

524
00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:29,200
Really? Because that is
the tremendous honour.

525
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:30,680
Am I supposed to say something?

526
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:32,320
"I declare this meeting closed."

527
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,120
That sounds about right to me.

528
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,880
And with that bang of the gong,

529
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,960
the instructions are sent
off on their long journey to Mars.

530
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,240
All being well,
the rover should receive them

531
00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:52,960
and finally be able to start

532
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,440
on its record-breaking journey
in the morning.

533
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,120
Perseverance has already changed
the way we look at the Red Planet.

534
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,120
The photos it takes
can be stitched together

535
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,840
into astonishing panoramas.

536
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,920
Scenes that let us stand
on the surface of another world.

537
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:31,800
It is a stark and barren
landscape, dimmer than the Earth.

538
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,680
Because it's farther from the sun,
less than half the amount

539
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,040
of sunlight reaches the surface.

540
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,280
But, in some ways, it looks
remarkably familiar.

541
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,280
There are sand dunes and boulder
fields that could have been

542
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,920
photographed in deserts
here on Earth.

543
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,200
There are even clouds in
the orange-coloured skies.

544
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:03,160
And because Perseverance is the only
Martian rover to carry microphones,

545
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,000
we can hear the sounds of Mars
for the first time.

546
00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:11,280
The whistling of the wind

547
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,920
that stirs up the dust devils that
ghost across the surface.

548
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,680
Perseverance has even observed
a solar eclipse,

549
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,600
as Mars's moon Phobos passes in
front of the sun.

550
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,960
But although there are undoubted
similarities to the Earth,

551
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,840
Mars is also a very alien world.

552
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,440
Because it's half the diameter
of our planet,

553
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:44,120
gravity on the surface is just 38%
as strong.

554
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,840
And while the Earth is wet,
warm and welcoming,

555
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,880
Mars is a desolate,
inhospitable place.

556
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,800
Its dusty surface is bone dry,
and covered by a thin

557
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,320
carbon dioxide atmosphere
just 1% the density of Earth's.

558
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:09,920
The average temperature
is -63 degrees Celsius.

559
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,480
It is cold, dry and dead.

560
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,960
This is the world that Perseverance
is exploring.

561
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,560
Day three, and it's an early
start at JPL.

562
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,200
Just see it there.

563
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,520
So coincidentally, early morning
at JPL,

564
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,960
we've just walked into
Mission Control,

565
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,200
and that bright point of light
in the sky there, Venus,

566
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,040
and just below it, you can just see
this faint red pixel

567
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:10,880
in the morning sky.

568
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:12,880
That's Mars.

569
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:16,720
In the brightening sky,

570
00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:19,200
Mars is too faint for our cameras.

571
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,120
But somewhere out there,
Perseverance will hopefully

572
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,840
have just completed the first
stage of its drive.

573
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,920
So how did the drive go yesterday?

574
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,720
It looks like it went well,
but we really can't tell yet.

575
00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:41,360
The data comes down in bits
and pieces, and right now

576
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,760
we have an image that was taken
in the late afternoon

577
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:49,080
at about the time I would
expect the drive to stop.

578
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,560
This is looking forward,
and if we look backward,

579
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,360
we should be able to see
the rover tracks.

580
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,400
So now we're looking back
the way we came.

581
00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,160
So it looks just as you would expect
if it had executed its full drive.

582
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:01,640
That's interesting, actually,

583
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:06,360
if you go back to that one, it's
just so obvious when you say it.

584
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,760
You can tell it's late afternoon
because of the long shadows on Mars.

585
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,400
Yeah, it's like Earth, you know,

586
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,080
it's not surprising.
You figure it out. Of course. Yeah.

587
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:19,760
When the telemetry from the rover
returns to Earth,

588
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,760
it shows exactly how well the rover
has fared on its drive.

589
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,280
To start off, it follows Vandi's
route through the treacherous

590
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,080
sand patches and boulders.

591
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:37,640
And then, as the AutoNav takes over,
the rover swings north

592
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:40,680
and drives itself
towards La Orotava Crater.

593
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:47,800
Covering a total distance of
204 metres

594
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:49,680
and 96 centimetres.

595
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,480
It's a great start to the journey.

596
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,080
But after this initial success,

597
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,320
the team are now facing an enforced
change of plan.

598
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,720
Tomorrow, the mission will
temporarily lose access

599
00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,560
to the Deep Space Network.

600
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,960
For 24 hours, they will not be able
to communicate

601
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:16,760
with the rover on Mars.

602
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,080
So to keep up with the schedule,
they've been forced into

603
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:22,960
a risky change of strategy.

604
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:29,080
So we're making a two-day drive
plan, because tomorrow

605
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:32,880
we don't have access to the antennas
that communicate with the rover.

606
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,480
So we send two days' worth
of instructions and just let

607
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,320
the rover do its thing and we get
a day off.

608
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,640
So how far would you hope to get?
About 500 metres.

609
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,640
Oh, really? Yeah, that's...
That'll be a big jump.

610
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,120
Today, they will be doing
a two-stop plan.

611
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:51,920
So when you're doing your assessment
today, let's make sure

612
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,800
that everything is green
and go for these activities

613
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,640
that will be coming up.

614
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,320
Now, we just heard that the plan
for the next two days

615
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,600
is for Perseverance to do
a two-day drive.

616
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:08,240
And as I speak, you can see
there, Canberra Deep Space Network

617
00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:11,880
antennae 35, there's communication
upwards to MRO.

618
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,920
That's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

619
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,520
So those are probably the
instructions that are going

620
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:20,800
to Perseverance to tell
it what to do on that two-day drive.

621
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,920
As the commands hurtle their way
towards Mars,

622
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:28,920
I want to find out how Perseverance
got to Jezero Crater.

623
00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:38,560
Jezero is the most dangerous
location that NASA has ever

624
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,920
tried to land a spacecraft on Mars.

625
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:47,320
It is full of hazards
that could be fatal to the mission.

626
00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,280
But if there's one place to come
to find the engineers who could

627
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,360
pull off this feat of precision
landing, it's JPL.

628
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:05,200
And this is JPL's motto,
Dare Mighty Things.

629
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,960
And JPL lives up, definitely,
to that motto,

630
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,760
as you can see from this award
cabinet, the trophy cabinet.

631
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,680
And it's just a history of space
exploration. For anyone who's

632
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:18,560
interested in our exploration
of the universe,

633
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,320
then this is just magnificent.

634
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:23,880
You see awards for Voyager,

635
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:26,040
Mars Exploration Rovers,

636
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:31,000
the Dawn Mission, Cassini,
just everything.

637
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,080
What's that one up there?
That's quite ornate, isn't it?

638
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,200
Appreciation for your support
and participation

639
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:42,520
in The American Space Experience
at Disneyland.

640
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,680
Upstairs from the trophy cabinet
is the office of Al Chen,

641
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:55,600
the engineer who was in charge
of designing the entry, descent

642
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,120
and landing system that would
allow Perseverance

643
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,800
to touch down in Jezero.

644
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,960
The scientists tell us about, you
know, the potential for life there.

645
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,480
But when we look at it from
a landing perspective,

646
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,880
all you can see are the ways
we're going to die there.

647
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,840
The death that's out there.
It's a site unlike any other place

648
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,160
we've tried to land on Mars.

649
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,600
It's just got hazards
all over the place.

650
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,680
If we turn on the slope hazards
here, you see the edge of the delta,

651
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:21,080
which is that 60 metre-ish cliff.

652
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:22,880
And then, of course, the edges
of craters,

653
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,560
and those are places we don't want
to land.

654
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:25,920
But of course, that's not it.

655
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,000
These are all the rocks
that we could see from space,

656
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,840
which means about a half metre
tall or so, or more.

657
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,280
If you manage to encounter
one of those red places,

658
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:35,240
you're very likely
to have a bad day.

659
00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:38,760
So those blue areas, they're
the safe areas. That's right.

660
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:42,560
When I look at that, it looks
like mainly hazard to me.

661
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:49,320
Al's job was to design a system
that would allow Perseverance

662
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:54,040
to identify and then land in one
of the safe areas near the delta.

663
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,400
But the first time his landing
system could be fully tested

664
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,200
was on February the 18th, 2021...

665
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:20,520
..as the spacecraft approached Mars
at the end of its six-month journey.

666
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,200
You are not triggered for talk.

667
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,800
It's kind of weird to have the only
test that you ever get a chance

668
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,040
to do, you know, in front of
everybody else in the world, right?

669
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:38,480
Definitely, my heart was racing.

670
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,880
I probably didn't want to know
what my blood pressure was.

671
00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:45,640
As the spacecraft makes
its final approach,

672
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:49,120
it's travelling at
20,000km per hour.

673
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,880
The job of Al's entry, descent
and landing system is to slow

674
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,800
it down to walking pace by the time
it reaches the surface.

675
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:12,360
Because of the delay
in communication with Mars,

676
00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:14,600
the whole process is automated.

677
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:20,280
All the crew in Mission Control
can do is watch and wait.

678
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,320
They call it the seven minutes
of terror.

679
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:30,680
In the first stage of the descent,

680
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:34,080
the spacecraft skims across the top
of the Martian atmosphere.

681
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:39,520
Even though it's much thinner
than the Earth's, the friction

682
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,560
is immense, causing the spacecraft's
heat shield to glow red-hot.

683
00:45:57,240 --> 00:45:59,680
After four minutes, the spacecraft
has slowed

684
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,760
to 1,500 kilometres an hour.

685
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,200
It's now just 11km
above the planet's surface.

686
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:12,720
Filmed with the lander's cameras,

687
00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:15,760
this is the actual video
of the parachute deploying

688
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:17,560
in the Martian atmosphere.

689
00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:23,920
As the heat shield falls away,

690
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,760
the unique artificial intelligence
system Al designed kicks in.

691
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,000
Its job is to scan the ground
below and identify

692
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,480
a safe landing zone.

693
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:41,280
2km above the surface...

694
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,440
..the parachute is released

695
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:50,120
and the eight lander rockets fire up

696
00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:52,920
to steer the craft towards its
chosen landing site.

697
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:01,320
And then the most
nerve-racking moment.

698
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:11,440
The rover is lowered the last
few metres on cables,

699
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:14,040
touching down in a swirl
of Martian dust.

700
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:29,720
Where did Perseverance choose
to come down?

701
00:47:29,720 --> 00:47:32,960
Perseverance came down in the Seitah
area, so we ended up kind of

702
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,040
down in this region right
about here.

703
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:37,920
You can see the hazards
that are out there.

704
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:41,080
But you can see that the area right
around the rover is nice and clean.

705
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,920
It's the parking
lot we were looking for.

706
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,960
The first pictures taken
by Perseverance on the surface

707
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,480
showed just how precise
the landing was.

708
00:47:56,440 --> 00:48:00,320
It had picked out a tiny area
of flat ground in a landscape filled

709
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,400
with boulders and sand dunes.

710
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:09,880
But this landscape was not
always so dry and dusty.

711
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:11,560
It was once submerged.

712
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:18,440
About 3.8 billion years ago,

713
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:21,880
Jezero Crater was filled with water,

714
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,720
forming a lake 45km across.

715
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:34,880
On Earth, we always find
life where there's water.

716
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,640
If the same is true on Mars,

717
00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:40,800
then life could have existed

718
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:45,240
in Jezero Lake at almost
exactly the same time

719
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:47,480
that it was evolving on Earth.

720
00:48:57,440 --> 00:48:59,680
With the Deep Space Network down,

721
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,960
there will be no update
from Perseverance today.

722
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,240
But a couple of hours' drive
from JPL

723
00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:12,160
is a unique lake called
the Salton Sea.

724
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,160
Set amongst the desert mountains,

725
00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:20,600
I could almost imagine the lake
in Jezero Crater.

726
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:27,280
I've come here to meet
astrobiologist Tim Lyons.

727
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,200
We're sat here in the middle
of a desert.

728
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:38,480
Very hot, very dry.
No sign of rain.

729
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,560
And yet there's this lake.
So why is the lake here?

730
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,960
Well, the lake is here because of
an engineering disaster.

731
00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:47,480
In 1905, an irrigation canal
was breached

732
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:50,880
by floodwaters from the Colorado,

733
00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:53,600
and it drained almost unabatedly
into this basin for two years.

734
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:56,760
Subsequent to that, it has received
agricultural runoff.

735
00:49:56,760 --> 00:50:00,440
So the water that we're looking
at now is essentially waste water.

736
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,680
It's a pretty nasty place,
to be honest with you.

737
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:04,480
And the fish are not doing
very well,

738
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:06,840
and the birds are correspondingly
being impacted.

739
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:10,720
But algae, bacteria,
microbes are thriving.

740
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:13,760
It's not a healthy environment,
but it is teeming with life.

741
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:22,400
It's this lake's unique
microbial ecosystem

742
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:26,000
that makes it an ideal place for
studying the origin of life

743
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,720
on Earth and on Mars.

744
00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:36,720
Look at these pools of colour.

745
00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:38,000
Pools of life!

746
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:40,880
This is the stuff.

747
00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:44,960
That's the warm little pond
teeming with life.

748
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:48,240
It looks just like...
I'm a physicist.

749
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:51,400
It just looks like some
floating scum.

750
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,760
That's one description of it, yeah.

751
00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:56,600
So this is what you'd call
a microbial mat?

752
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,880
Well, I would say that this might
be a microbial mat in the making.

753
00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:03,680
And so this is what early
Earth life was like.

754
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:07,200
Some of our very best, most
convincing evidence for life

755
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:10,920
going back in time on Earth
are microbial mats, things

756
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:15,800
like this pond that end up with
these laminated concentrations,

757
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,040
things we call stromatolites,

758
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,240
found in places like Australia that
go back, convincingly,

759
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:23,320
to three and a half billion
years ago,

760
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,880
and some people would argue
maybe even to 3.7 billion years ago.

761
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,360
That's very close to the window
of time

762
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:31,640
that is being studied in Jezero.

763
00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:35,880
So if we were to imagine sort
of, what, 3.8 billion years ago,

764
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,560
standing on the shores of
Jezero Crater,

765
00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:40,840
is there any chance
it may have looked like this?

766
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:42,480
Oh, absolutely. I think so.

767
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:44,840
I think even a sceptic
would have to admit that.

768
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,200
And so here we're looking
at the actual life

769
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:48,760
that may have been present,

770
00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:51,760
analogous life present
on Mars in Jezero,

771
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:54,960
3.8, 3.7 billion years ago.

772
00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:21,000
Now I suppose you might
reasonably ask,

773
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,560
why are we so interested
in the question,

774
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:26,920
"Did life exist on a planet
millions of miles away

775
00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:29,120
"three and a half billion
years ago?"

776
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:32,160
I don't think, actually, that's
a reasonable question

777
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:34,720
because the question, "Are we alone
in the universe?"

778
00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:37,880
is one of the most
profound philosophical questions.

779
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,400
But if you want to be more pragmatic
about it, then you might

780
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:43,920
be interested in how life
began here.

781
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,600
How did we come to be here on Earth?

782
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,400
And the evidence for the origin
of life on Earth

783
00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:55,320
has actually largely been erased,
because Earth is an active world.

784
00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:58,160
There's plate tectonics which take
the evidence

785
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:00,920
and literally take it down
inside the planet.

786
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:04,880
There's weathering with rain
and wind and the oceans.

787
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:08,520
And so there's very little evidence
of what Earth was like

788
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:10,560
three and a half billion years ago.

789
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:14,440
But on Mars, it's different,
because Mars is a planet

790
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:18,480
that's been in deep freeze for
three and a half billion years.

791
00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:21,720
There is no plate tectonics.
There's very little weathering.

792
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:28,480
So if life began on Mars,
the evidence may still be there.

793
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:34,160
So paradoxically, if you're
interested in how we came

794
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,960
to be here, the answer might lie
up there.

795
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,520
It's these profound questions
about the origin of life

796
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,760
that make Perseverance's mission
so important.

797
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:53,600
But searching for signs
of ancient life

798
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,400
on the surface of Mars isn't easy.

799
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:06,040
Finding the remnants of it and then
proving that it really is evidence

800
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:09,120
of life is the rover's
biggest challenge.

801
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:24,080
Back at JPL,
I'm meeting Luther Beegle...

802
00:54:24,080 --> 00:54:25,760
Hello, Luther. Hey.

803
00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:29,960
..one of the chief scientists
on the Perseverance team.

804
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:32,440
It would be one of
the greatest discoveries

805
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:35,280
in the history of science,
wouldn't it?

806
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:38,840
In the history of civilisation.
"We're not alone in the universe."

807
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:43,000
So how much would it take
to convince you?

808
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:47,040
I know that you can never convince
a roomful of scientists.

809
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:48,280
Not all of them.

810
00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:50,720
No, we're not... We're not
convincing a roomful of scientists

811
00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:52,920
on what they had for lunch.

812
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:56,560
But I don't know what that level
of convincing would be.

813
00:54:56,560 --> 00:54:59,040
It's something that's going to take
a lot of evidence and a lot

814
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:03,640
of chains, and a lot of different
measurements to prove out.

815
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:06,320
Luther is in charge of an instrument
called Sherlock.

816
00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:10,160
Located at the end
of the rover's arm,

817
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:13,440
it's a laser scanner designed
to detect

818
00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:16,280
the faintest chemical traces
that life leaves behind.

819
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:20,560
And we can demonstrate its abilities

820
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:23,920
with some of the most ancient
evidence of life on Earth.

821
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:29,880
Life always leaves its imprint
on its environments.

822
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:32,160
I can show you in this
particular sample here,

823
00:55:32,160 --> 00:55:35,560
this is a stromatolite from
the Strelley pool formation

824
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:38,520
in Australia. It's about
3.5 billion years old.

825
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,320
I love the way you throw
that away, by the way.

826
00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:43,440
Three and a half billion years old.

827
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:46,080
Yeah. I mean, it just looks
like a rock to me.

828
00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:47,160
So what... What...

829
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:51,240
How would you convince me or anyone
else that was biological?

830
00:55:51,240 --> 00:55:53,440
Well, if I wet this rock, you
can kind of see

831
00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:55,920
the lines a little bit
better. And so...

832
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,040
So here you can really see, they
really come out a little bit better.

833
00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:04,600
Oh, yeah. So you can see
the white layer and the black layer,

834
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,080
back and forth. Yeah, I can see
those really clearly. Yeah.

835
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:09,120
So why does that indicate
biological activity?

836
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:11,440
These particular stromatolites
are curved,

837
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,000
have different formations,

838
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,040
that could only have been created
through biological processes.

839
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,400
So are you looking for patterns
like this on Mars?

840
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:21,720
We are looking for patterns
like this on Mars

841
00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:25,160
as a first indication that this
is either a sedimentary rock,

842
00:56:25,160 --> 00:56:26,560
or a stromatolite.

843
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:29,720
And then we have to do the next
layer of analysis on those rocks.

844
00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:34,680
And this is where Sherlock comes in.

845
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:38,360
After scraping away the surface
of the rock, it zooms in

846
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:40,440
to examine it in microscopic detail.

847
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:45,520
Using the reflected light
from lasers to detect

848
00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:48,560
the tiny variations
in chemical composition

849
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,400
that are left behind
by living organisms.

850
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:57,360
So here you can see what a Sherlock
scan, where we went in and looked

851
00:56:57,360 --> 00:57:00,200
at where the organic molecules
on this particular rock was.

852
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,720
The purple material here
is the ancient organic material.

853
00:57:03,720 --> 00:57:06,600
You can see that there are lines
associated with this,

854
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:09,480
where the basic biology then grew
and died,

855
00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,480
and grew and died, and moved
up the rock like this.

856
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:17,360
So these are literally the remains
of organisms that lived potentially

857
00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:20,240
billions of years ago. Potentially
billions of years ago.

858
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:26,800
The great hope is that Perseverance
will find similar signs of life

859
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:28,160
when it reaches the delta.

860
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:33,640
You must be waiting...

861
00:57:33,640 --> 00:57:36,240
I know the Perseverance
landed, and there's a lot

862
00:57:36,240 --> 00:57:38,080
of geology being done.
You must be saying,

863
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:40,320
"Can you just get
round to the delta, please?"

864
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:42,160
We do. "Can we go? Can we go?
Can we go?

865
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:44,320
"I want to go to the delta.
I want to go to the delta."

866
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:45,760
But we understand the geology.

867
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:48,160
You know, we're a big giant
400-person team, so you kind

868
00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:49,480
of want to work together.

869
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:51,280
But at the same time,
"Can we can get to the delta?

870
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:52,680
"Can we get to the delta?

871
00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:54,920
"Can we stay at the delta
for a while?" Yeah.

872
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:59,120
So images like this, you know,
potentially, in a golden scenario,

873
00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:02,840
we could expect results
like this in a few months?

874
00:58:02,840 --> 00:58:05,840
Yeah, in months rather than years,

875
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:08,200
which is nice
to see the finish line.

876
00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:16,440
It is a tantalising thought that we
may soon get our first hints,

877
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:18,720
our first pieces of evidence

878
00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:22,000
that life may once
have filled this crater.

879
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:40,640
Day five.

880
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:44,680
After 24 hours of radio silence,
contact is re-established

881
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:46,560
with Perseverance on Mars...

882
00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:51,360
..and we get our first update
on the two-day drive.

883
00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:58,800
Photos and telemetry show the first
part of the drive

884
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:00,800
has gone according to plan.

885
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:06,120
The rover covering another
259 metres and 37 centimetres

886
00:59:06,120 --> 00:59:09,040
around the edge of the Seitah
sand dunes.

887
00:59:10,160 --> 00:59:14,160
But it seems that this is as far
as the rover will be going for now.

888
00:59:22,920 --> 00:59:25,360
News filters through that
the instructions

889
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:28,080
for the second day's drive
had a bug in them

890
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:30,360
and were never received
by the rover.

891
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:36,720
To find out what went wrong,

892
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:40,920
I'm off to find deputy mission
scientist Katie Stack Morgan.

893
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:45,440
So do you know what happened
overnight when the data came down?

894
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:48,560
Yes. So we had planned two days'
worth of driving.

895
00:59:48,560 --> 00:59:52,320
And that's a brand-new capability
for Mars rovers, being able to plan

896
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,800
drives in a row like that.

897
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:58,480
But we encountered an issue that
prevented us from uplinking

898
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:01,680
both of those drives, and sending
both of those drives to the rover.

899
01:00:01,680 --> 01:00:04,760
It's interesting to me that the
problem was not with... on Mars.

900
01:00:04,760 --> 01:00:06,440
No issue on Mars at all.

901
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:09,840
But it's the computer
software, basically. That's right.

902
01:00:09,840 --> 01:00:11,680
You know, and these things
happen all the time.

903
01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:14,280
And we deal with them. In
a way this is helpful to us,

904
01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:17,280
because by giving the rover
a whole day to recharge,

905
01:00:17,280 --> 01:00:19,760
we then fill up our batteries all
the way to the top,

906
01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:22,400
and we can get ready to do
long drives in the weekend plan.

907
01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:24,760
So - silver lining to that,
to not being able

908
01:00:24,760 --> 01:00:26,120
to get that other drive up.

909
01:00:29,320 --> 01:00:32,760
Having fallen another day
behind schedule, the rover now

910
01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:35,760
has to travel 750 metres in just
two days

911
01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:37,800
to reach La Orotava crater

912
01:00:37,800 --> 01:00:39,560
by the end of the week.

913
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:46,960
But Perseverance isn't the only
vehicle that the team has on Mars.

914
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:51,040
And this week, I've also come
to learn about its companion.

915
01:00:54,120 --> 01:00:58,160
Ingenuity, the first-ever
extraterrestrial helicopter.

916
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:04,040
I'm fascinated by this machine
because it was designed to do

917
01:01:04,040 --> 01:01:10,120
the seemingly impossible - to fly
in Mars's almost vanishingly thin

918
01:01:10,120 --> 01:01:13,600
atmosphere, just 1% as thick
as the Earth's.

919
01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:26,200
To find out how Ingenuity
achieves such a feat,

920
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:30,720
I'm meeting Havard Grip, the
helicopter's chief pilot, who's

921
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:34,840
taking me to see the engineering
model of the helicopter.

922
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:40,800
So this is our helicopter lab.

923
01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:45,680
It's probably the most important
space that we have as a project.

924
01:01:45,680 --> 01:01:49,560
So here you want to stay away
from the model in the middle,

925
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,200
and the hardware along the edges.

926
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:53,040
I'm really... I'm really excited
to see this.

927
01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:56,240
It's smaller than I imagined.

928
01:01:56,240 --> 01:02:01,280
Although the blades look, to me,
much bigger than I'd imagined.

929
01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:02,960
Much thicker.
That's right.

930
01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:06,000
So the main thing you notice
is just the size of the rotor.

931
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:07,840
1.2 metres, tip to tip.

932
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:09,680
It's just huge, you know,

933
01:02:09,680 --> 01:02:13,440
And if that was on Earth
with this same kind of rotor,

934
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:15,960
it could lift a huge amount of mass.

935
01:02:15,960 --> 01:02:20,640
But on Mars, you need that just
to lift this tiny little helicopter

936
01:02:20,640 --> 01:02:24,680
off the ground.
How much does it weigh? 1.8kg.

937
01:02:24,680 --> 01:02:26,680
Is that all? That's it, yeah.

938
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:35,400
Even at 1.8 kilos, it wasn't clear
that Ingenuity would be able to fly

939
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:36,840
in Mars's atmosphere.

940
01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:44,600
On April 19, 2021, Perseverance
pointed its cameras

941
01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:48,400
at the helicopter, as it prepared
for its first flight.

942
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:55,920
And millions of miles away
at JPL, its engineering team

943
01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:57,960
waited for news...

944
01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:00,000
..of success or failure.

945
01:03:50,160 --> 01:03:52,000
I see you brought your logbook,
which has got

946
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:54,040
to be the coolest logbook.

947
01:03:55,280 --> 01:03:58,560
It's pretty neat. It's called the
pilot's logbook

948
01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:00,160
for planets and moons.

949
01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:04,000
Yeah. So it's you and
the Apollo astronauts.

950
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,480
That's basically...
That's pretty much it.

951
01:04:06,480 --> 01:04:08,720
I love this. So the remarks
are fantastic.

952
01:04:08,720 --> 01:04:12,040
"First powered flight by an aircraft
on another world."

953
01:04:12,040 --> 01:04:14,360
That's right. That's fantastic.

954
01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:16,760
It was fun to write that, yeah.

955
01:04:17,840 --> 01:04:21,800
"Climb to three metres, turns
96 degrees to the right."

956
01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:25,640
That's just wonderful. That will go
down in history, won't it?

957
01:04:25,640 --> 01:04:28,000
That's going to be one of those
things that has a picture.

958
01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:32,200
It is aviation history, you know,
so it's pretty special

959
01:04:32,200 --> 01:04:33,440
to be part of it.

960
01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:42,400
Ingenuity's place in history
is assured.

961
01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:46,240
Initially, it was only designed
to survive for three months and make

962
01:04:46,240 --> 01:04:47,480
just five flights.

963
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:54,600
But over a year later, it was still
going strong, making 20 flights,

964
01:04:54,600 --> 01:04:58,440
clocking up over 36 minutes'
total flight time,

965
01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:00,320
and covering over 4km.

966
01:05:01,680 --> 01:05:06,160
But its real contribution
to the mission may still be to come.

967
01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:12,400
If the helicopter can make
it to the delta, this ability to fly

968
01:05:12,400 --> 01:05:14,520
over the steep slopes and cliffs

969
01:05:14,520 --> 01:05:17,760
that the rover can't access
will prove invaluable.

970
01:05:20,200 --> 01:05:24,320
But even reaching the delta
will be an enormous challenge.

971
01:05:26,080 --> 01:05:30,680
And just before our seven-day rover
mission began, Ingenuity attempted

972
01:05:30,680 --> 01:05:32,960
the next flight on that journey.

973
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:40,480
It's very exciting, actually,
because yesterday, Earth time,

974
01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:44,080
the helicopter flew and we don't
know what happened to it.

975
01:05:44,080 --> 01:05:47,000
Actually, the data came down last
night, and this is the meeting

976
01:05:47,000 --> 01:05:48,320
where the engineering teams

977
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:50,920
look at the data from the
helicopter, and see what it did.

978
01:05:50,920 --> 01:05:53,920
And they've allowed us... It wasn't
clear they were going to do this,

979
01:05:53,920 --> 01:05:57,160
but they've allowed us to go
into the meeting and watch

980
01:05:57,160 --> 01:06:01,600
as they review the engineering data
from the flight.

981
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:12,200
This is a make or break
flight for Ingenuity.

982
01:06:14,880 --> 01:06:18,200
Rather than taking the long
way round to the delta,

983
01:06:18,200 --> 01:06:20,560
it's going to attempt to take
a short cut

984
01:06:20,560 --> 01:06:22,960
across the treacherous
Seitah sand dunes.

985
01:06:24,800 --> 01:06:27,240
But the helicopter relies
on Perseverance

986
01:06:27,240 --> 01:06:29,680
for its communication with Earth.

987
01:06:29,680 --> 01:06:32,520
And this journey will take
the vehicles further apart

988
01:06:32,520 --> 01:06:34,000
than ever before.

989
01:06:34,000 --> 01:06:38,040
So a safe landing in a spot
where it can maintain radio contact

990
01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:40,240
with the rover will be crucial.

991
01:06:57,120 --> 01:06:59,760
As the team go
through the flight data,

992
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:02,400
there's a nervous wait.

993
01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:28,240
These are the pictures Ingenuity
took during the flight.

994
01:07:29,200 --> 01:07:30,800
As it looks down at its shadow,

995
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:34,680
we can track its path as it rises
ten metres into the air,

996
01:07:34,680 --> 01:07:38,560
then traverses the 370 metres
to its new landing spot...

997
01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:44,160
..from where it should be able
to stay in communication

998
01:07:44,160 --> 01:07:47,080
with Perseverance
as it drives to the delta.

999
01:07:54,200 --> 01:07:59,960
INDISTINCT

1000
01:07:59,960 --> 01:08:02,520
That's really interesting,

1001
01:08:02,520 --> 01:08:06,400
and what really strikes me is that

1002
01:08:06,400 --> 01:08:10,800
this helicopter was not
really designed to last this long.

1003
01:08:10,800 --> 01:08:13,400
They thought it would maybe fly
four or five times.

1004
01:08:13,400 --> 01:08:16,160
It's now had its 21st
flight, and it's all working

1005
01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:18,120
and it's recharging properly.

1006
01:08:18,120 --> 01:08:21,280
So it's a, you know, it's a
tremendous engineering achievement.

1007
01:08:22,400 --> 01:08:25,480
Remember you're flying a little
helicopter autonomously

1008
01:08:25,480 --> 01:08:27,960
on the surface of another planet.

1009
01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:30,560
Nobody's flying it,
it's flying itself.

1010
01:08:38,000 --> 01:08:40,640
If you told the 12-year-old me

1011
01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:42,480
who first wrote to JPL

1012
01:08:42,480 --> 01:08:44,360
that one day I'd be here

1013
01:08:44,360 --> 01:08:49,080
seeing a helicopter fly on Mars,
I wouldn't have believed it.

1014
01:08:50,680 --> 01:08:55,120
But Ingenuity is just one of many
reminders of how far our

1015
01:08:55,120 --> 01:08:56,960
technology has advanced.

1016
01:09:00,960 --> 01:09:05,320
This is a piece of history
because this is the first picture

1017
01:09:05,320 --> 01:09:08,520
ever returned of the surface
of Mars by spacecraft.

1018
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:11,120
It's Mariner 4, 1965.

1019
01:09:11,120 --> 01:09:14,840
And you might see actually,
it's kind of a fuzzy picture.

1020
01:09:14,840 --> 01:09:16,880
It's actually hand-drawn.

1021
01:09:16,880 --> 01:09:21,160
These are strips of tape that came
out of the printer with numbers

1022
01:09:21,160 --> 01:09:24,560
printed on, which are the data
from the cameras on Mariner 4,

1023
01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:26,560
and they correspond to colours.

1024
01:09:26,560 --> 01:09:28,240
And the data link was so slow

1025
01:09:28,240 --> 01:09:30,680
that the engineers and,
in particular,

1026
01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:32,880
one engineer called Richard Grumm,

1027
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:34,560
got so bored with waiting

1028
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:37,160
that he went to an art shop
in Pasadena,

1029
01:09:37,160 --> 01:09:38,800
bought these crayons,

1030
01:09:38,800 --> 01:09:42,960
these are the real ones, in this
box, and then sat there colouring

1031
01:09:42,960 --> 01:09:46,120
it in so he could see the image
from Mariner.

1032
01:09:52,000 --> 01:09:54,880
Compare that to the high resolution
images that we're getting

1033
01:09:54,880 --> 01:09:56,520
back from Perseverance.

1034
01:09:57,720 --> 01:09:58,840
Yeah.

1035
01:09:58,840 --> 01:10:01,040
There's technology marching on.

1036
01:10:31,160 --> 01:10:32,240
Day six begins.

1037
01:10:34,960 --> 01:10:39,720
And once again, we're waiting
to hear from Perseverance.

1038
01:10:39,720 --> 01:10:43,360
Overnight, it should have received
the instructions for the delayed

1039
01:10:43,360 --> 01:10:46,160
second half of its two-day drive.

1040
01:10:50,520 --> 01:10:53,800
And the incoming data reveals
an astonishing day

1041
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:55,240
of auto nav driving.

1042
01:10:57,440 --> 01:11:02,040
Perseverance has recorded the second
furthest distance any Martian rover

1043
01:11:02,040 --> 01:11:04,880
has ever travelled in a single day.

1044
01:11:04,880 --> 01:11:08,840
297 metres and 60 centimetres.

1045
01:11:11,360 --> 01:11:15,280
So far this week, the rover
has covered over 760 metres.

1046
01:11:16,360 --> 01:11:21,360
But with only one day to go in our
time at JPL, La Orotava crater

1047
01:11:21,360 --> 01:11:24,000
is still nearly half
a kilometre away.

1048
01:11:27,880 --> 01:11:32,160
It will take a Herculean effort
to reach there tomorrow.

1049
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:34,840
And while Vandi and the rover
driving team build the plan

1050
01:11:34,840 --> 01:11:36,000
for that drive...

1051
01:11:40,120 --> 01:11:43,520
..I have another appointment
with Optimism in the Mars yard.

1052
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:52,960
Today, the engineering team
are running tests on what may

1053
01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:56,520
be the most important and ambitious
system on the rover.

1054
01:11:58,960 --> 01:12:01,080
Starting move to contact.

1055
01:12:02,840 --> 01:12:06,240
All right, Greta, you can kick
off coring.

1056
01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:08,280
All right. Yep.

1057
01:12:08,280 --> 01:12:10,120
Sending coring in three, two, one.

1058
01:12:20,720 --> 01:12:23,320
Perseverance, as you can see
and hear,

1059
01:12:23,320 --> 01:12:25,320
is equipped with a drill.

1060
01:12:25,320 --> 01:12:26,840
And drills are always noisy.

1061
01:12:26,840 --> 01:12:29,640
Be less noisy on Mars, by the way,
because of the much

1062
01:12:29,640 --> 01:12:31,200
less dense atmosphere.

1063
01:12:34,360 --> 01:12:36,680
We're at a depth of 3.9mm

1064
01:12:36,680 --> 01:12:39,160
out of our target five millimetres.
Thanks, Greta.

1065
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:47,840
On Mars, Perseverance uses exactly
the same system to collect cylinders

1066
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:52,400
of rock that may contain key
evidence for the existence of life.

1067
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:58,440
So far, it's collected and stored
eight samples, with room for 30

1068
01:12:58,440 --> 01:13:00,080
more when it reaches the delta.

1069
01:13:03,200 --> 01:13:07,440
And the reason that this process
is so important is that, one day,

1070
01:13:07,440 --> 01:13:10,960
these samples will hopefully
be brought back to Earth.

1071
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:18,720
Mini Wadhwa is the science lead
for the mission that will return

1072
01:13:18,720 --> 01:13:21,120
the Martian rocks to this planet.

1073
01:13:22,480 --> 01:13:25,720
Why is it so important to bring
the samples back to Earth?

1074
01:13:25,720 --> 01:13:28,360
Because I suppose, naively,
"We've got

1075
01:13:28,360 --> 01:13:30,160
"this tremendously sophisticated
robot.

1076
01:13:30,160 --> 01:13:31,400
"It's got the samples.

1077
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:34,800
"Why doesn't it just look
for signs of life itself?"

1078
01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:36,920
This is an incredible machine.

1079
01:13:36,920 --> 01:13:41,160
But the kinds of analyses
that we want to be able to do

1080
01:13:41,160 --> 01:13:44,680
with the samples is going to require
really the best and most

1081
01:13:44,680 --> 01:13:46,120
sophisticated instrumentation

1082
01:13:46,120 --> 01:13:47,800
that you have available on the
Earth.

1083
01:13:47,800 --> 01:13:51,720
And it's just not possible
on a small rover like that.

1084
01:13:51,720 --> 01:13:56,400
The other factor is that we want
to be able to reproduce results.

1085
01:13:56,400 --> 01:13:58,600
I mean, can you imagine
what it would be like if somebody

1086
01:13:58,600 --> 01:14:02,880
actually found evidence
of past life in these samples?

1087
01:14:02,880 --> 01:14:04,920
We'd want to verify those results,

1088
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:06,520
and we'd want to verify them

1089
01:14:06,520 --> 01:14:08,160
in independent laboratories.

1090
01:14:08,160 --> 01:14:12,040
That's not something you can do
with a remote laboratory on Mars.

1091
01:14:12,040 --> 01:14:15,680
You've got to bring them back
here, so that the best scientists

1092
01:14:15,680 --> 01:14:18,920
and the best labs can
really have at it.

1093
01:14:18,920 --> 01:14:22,160
Yeah, I suppose it is an example
of extraordinary claims

1094
01:14:22,160 --> 01:14:25,200
require extraordinary evidence,
isn't? Exactly.

1095
01:14:28,080 --> 01:14:32,480
Bringing the samples back to Earth
will not be a trivial task.

1096
01:14:35,600 --> 01:14:38,480
To do it, engineers have designed a
mission

1097
01:14:38,480 --> 01:14:40,880
unlike anything I've ever seen.

1098
01:14:40,880 --> 01:14:43,040
It's called Mars Sample Return.

1099
01:14:46,760 --> 01:14:49,560
The Mars Sample Return mission
sounds really simple

1100
01:14:49,560 --> 01:14:50,800
as a concept, right?

1101
01:14:50,800 --> 01:14:54,240
All you've got to do is get some
samples from the surface of Mars

1102
01:14:54,240 --> 01:14:55,680
and bring them back to Earth.

1103
01:14:55,680 --> 01:14:59,960
But actually, when you hear
the engineering solution,

1104
01:14:59,960 --> 01:15:02,600
how to do that, it sounds
fantastical.

1105
01:15:04,440 --> 01:15:06,680
So there are two missions
that fly to Mars.

1106
01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:10,120
One is the so-called fetch rover,
which is a little rover,

1107
01:15:10,120 --> 01:15:12,400
which is going to land
on the surface of Mars,

1108
01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:15,160
and it's going to drive
around and it's going to pick

1109
01:15:15,160 --> 01:15:18,440
up the samples, bring them
back to an ascent vehicle,

1110
01:15:18,440 --> 01:15:21,080
which is the thing that's going
to launch those samples into orbit.

1111
01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:26,760
And then the sample thing
itself detaches away.

1112
01:15:26,760 --> 01:15:29,840
And it's only about a basketball
size, maybe a bit bigger.

1113
01:15:29,840 --> 01:15:33,360
And then another mission comes
from Earth, and it has to locate

1114
01:15:33,360 --> 01:15:37,120
this thing that's in orbit somewhere
around Mars, and then it has to kind

1115
01:15:37,120 --> 01:15:39,560
of go and grab it in space.

1116
01:15:39,560 --> 01:15:42,400
And then when it gets to Earth,
it'll detach,

1117
01:15:42,400 --> 01:15:45,600
with this precious cargo in it, will
enter the Earth's atmosphere.

1118
01:15:45,600 --> 01:15:47,440
No rockets, no parachutes.

1119
01:15:48,680 --> 01:15:52,600
It will just impact into the sand
somewhere in Utah.

1120
01:15:52,600 --> 01:15:56,240
And then they'll go and find it
and bring it back into laboratories.

1121
01:15:56,240 --> 01:16:00,400
And that, believe it or not,
is the simplest and safest

1122
01:16:00,400 --> 01:16:05,160
engineering solution to bringing
something about that big, filled

1123
01:16:05,160 --> 01:16:07,680
with samples from Mars,
back to Earth.

1124
01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:19,440
Now, all that might sound
like science fiction, but actually

1125
01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:23,680
it's going to have to become science
fact pretty soon, because the first

1126
01:16:23,680 --> 01:16:27,520
bits of the sample return mission
is supposed to launch in 2026,

1127
01:16:27,520 --> 01:16:30,360
which is only, what, about four
years away.

1128
01:16:30,360 --> 01:16:31,920
They're preparing for it now.

1129
01:16:31,920 --> 01:16:35,400
In fact, up there - see that tower?

1130
01:16:35,400 --> 01:16:36,960
That's the test-bed

1131
01:16:36,960 --> 01:16:41,760
for the dropping the capsule
that returns those samples to Earth,

1132
01:16:41,760 --> 01:16:44,560
to see, when it hits the ground,
if it survives.

1133
01:16:44,560 --> 01:16:47,320
So it is not an exaggeration to say,

1134
01:16:47,320 --> 01:16:50,120
as I'm going to say it, that I think

1135
01:16:50,120 --> 01:16:53,920
the best engineers in the world
are working on this project.

1136
01:16:57,560 --> 01:17:00,760
Here at JPL,
development is well under way.

1137
01:17:02,040 --> 01:17:04,640
They're already testing the systems
that will launch the rocket

1138
01:17:04,640 --> 01:17:06,520
from the surface of Mars.

1139
01:17:09,960 --> 01:17:13,640
And the capsule that will crash
into the Utah desert.

1140
01:17:14,840 --> 01:17:18,120
If all goes to plan, the samples
collected on Mars could be returned

1141
01:17:18,120 --> 01:17:21,720
to Earth by as early as 2031.

1142
01:17:25,680 --> 01:17:28,000
It's undoubtedly a risky mission.

1143
01:17:30,880 --> 01:17:34,320
But there may also be risks
when the Martian rocks are safely

1144
01:17:34,320 --> 01:17:35,400
back on Earth.

1145
01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:41,560
And that's what I want to
investigate on my last day at JPL.

1146
01:17:59,920 --> 01:18:03,480
Bringing Martian samples back
to Earth is going to be vital

1147
01:18:03,480 --> 01:18:07,200
if we're ever going to prove that
there was life on Mars.

1148
01:18:09,880 --> 01:18:14,360
But there is an outside possibility
that those samples could also cause

1149
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:16,360
a problem for life on Earth.

1150
01:18:17,800 --> 01:18:19,640
Welcome.

1151
01:18:19,640 --> 01:18:23,760
Oh, I mean, I've got to say,
there are badges of every mission

1152
01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:25,400
that I grew up with here.

1153
01:18:25,400 --> 01:18:26,960
So what's this room?

1154
01:18:26,960 --> 01:18:29,120
This is the spacecraft
assembly facility.

1155
01:18:29,120 --> 01:18:31,280
It's where all of the magic happens.

1156
01:18:31,280 --> 01:18:35,920
Every single spacecraft built at JPL
was assembled in this room.

1157
01:18:36,880 --> 01:18:40,600
Moogega Cooper is one of the people
whose job it is to make sure

1158
01:18:40,600 --> 01:18:42,560
that our planet stays safe.

1159
01:18:43,680 --> 01:18:45,920
So you have one of the best
job titles, I think,

1160
01:18:45,920 --> 01:18:49,680
which is Planetary Protection Lead
for Mars 2020.

1161
01:18:49,680 --> 01:18:52,000
So what is planetary protection?

1162
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:54,160
Planetary protection is two-fold.

1163
01:18:54,160 --> 01:18:56,960
We have to make sure that,
as we send spacecraft

1164
01:18:56,960 --> 01:18:59,040
out into the solar system,

1165
01:18:59,040 --> 01:19:03,160
whether to planets, moons or
asteroids, we have to make sure

1166
01:19:03,160 --> 01:19:06,800
that we don't spread our
contaminants to those places

1167
01:19:06,800 --> 01:19:09,080
of interest, especially
if it could harbour life.

1168
01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:12,640
And the flip side,
if we were to bring samples back

1169
01:19:12,640 --> 01:19:15,320
to our own planet, we have to make
sure our planet is protected

1170
01:19:15,320 --> 01:19:18,320
from anything that might be harmful
out there.

1171
01:19:18,320 --> 01:19:22,000
So are we worried about microbes
from Mars? Yeah.

1172
01:19:22,000 --> 01:19:25,200
In fact, the assumption is to handle
it as if it's hazardous

1173
01:19:25,200 --> 01:19:26,760
until proven otherwise.

1174
01:19:26,760 --> 01:19:29,120
The level of precaution
that is going to be taken

1175
01:19:29,120 --> 01:19:32,560
with these samples is that
of a hazardous material.

1176
01:19:32,560 --> 01:19:34,960
So when we bring the samples back,

1177
01:19:34,960 --> 01:19:37,800
so we've heard this audacious idea -

1178
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:40,400
I mean, Mars sample return
is terrifying, from an engineering

1179
01:19:40,400 --> 01:19:43,680
perspective - but essentially
you're going to crash it into Utah.

1180
01:19:43,680 --> 01:19:45,120
Right. A controlled crash.

1181
01:19:45,120 --> 01:19:46,720
I know that's not the language.

1182
01:19:46,720 --> 01:19:49,760
There's going to be a controlled
descent... There we go.

1183
01:19:49,760 --> 01:19:52,480
..without parachutes, into Utah.

1184
01:19:52,480 --> 01:19:54,920
So what is the procedure
from then on?

1185
01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:56,960
So you have this capsule,
sealed capsule...

1186
01:19:56,960 --> 01:19:59,160
Yeah. ..in the desert.
What happens to it?

1187
01:19:59,160 --> 01:20:03,440
The goal in general is to take
that capsule, bring it to a facility

1188
01:20:03,440 --> 01:20:07,320
that is unlike any facility
that exists today on our planet,

1189
01:20:07,320 --> 01:20:10,960
to safely contain anything
that might be in that sample

1190
01:20:10,960 --> 01:20:13,160
while we open it up, extract
the samples

1191
01:20:13,160 --> 01:20:15,400
and interrogate it scientifically.

1192
01:20:15,400 --> 01:20:17,440
So it will be a... It will be...

1193
01:20:17,440 --> 01:20:20,160
We will build a bio lab
like no other.

1194
01:20:20,160 --> 01:20:22,120
Exactly. Essentially. Yeah.

1195
01:20:25,400 --> 01:20:28,960
For the Martian samples, Nasa
is planning on creating the most

1196
01:20:28,960 --> 01:20:31,440
biosecure laboratory ever built.

1197
01:20:33,080 --> 01:20:36,600
More secure than the labs
like these that handle lethal

1198
01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:38,960
diseases like Ebola and smallpox.

1199
01:20:41,760 --> 01:20:44,840
But while taking all possible
precautions is definitely the right

1200
01:20:44,840 --> 01:20:45,960
thing to do...

1201
01:20:48,000 --> 01:20:50,320
..it's probably
too late to protect us

1202
01:20:50,320 --> 01:20:51,920
from Martian contamination.

1203
01:20:53,400 --> 01:20:56,040
When we speak about planetary
protection, that sort of gives

1204
01:20:56,040 --> 01:20:59,280
the sense that Mars and Earth
are completely isolated

1205
01:20:59,280 --> 01:21:00,520
from each other.

1206
01:21:00,520 --> 01:21:04,240
But that's certainly not
the case because this

1207
01:21:04,240 --> 01:21:05,640
is a piece of Mars.

1208
01:21:06,680 --> 01:21:12,240
It's from a Martian meteorite
that fell in Nigeria in 1962.

1209
01:21:12,240 --> 01:21:16,360
Now, that raises an interesting
possibility, because if rocks

1210
01:21:16,360 --> 01:21:18,560
can be transferred from Mars
to Earth,

1211
01:21:18,560 --> 01:21:21,440
and actually about 500kg of Mars

1212
01:21:21,440 --> 01:21:24,480
floats down onto the Earth every
year,

1213
01:21:24,480 --> 01:21:27,320
then maybe so can life.

1214
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:33,760
The idea that life could migrate
between the planets

1215
01:21:33,760 --> 01:21:36,200
may sound incredible.

1216
01:21:36,200 --> 01:21:39,720
But there are scientists who believe
it's possible that life

1217
01:21:39,720 --> 01:21:42,760
could have arisen on Earth
and been carried to Mars

1218
01:21:42,760 --> 01:21:43,800
on a meteorite.

1219
01:21:47,680 --> 01:21:52,920
And it's also possible that life
began on Mars and was transported

1220
01:21:52,920 --> 01:21:53,880
to the Earth.

1221
01:21:57,200 --> 01:21:59,600
Now, we don't know if that happened.

1222
01:22:01,240 --> 01:22:04,280
But a key step towards finding out

1223
01:22:04,280 --> 01:22:06,840
would be to find traces
of life on Mars.

1224
01:22:08,960 --> 01:22:13,760
And it certainly adds an extra
dimension to Perseverance's mission.

1225
01:22:21,640 --> 01:22:25,400
As our week at JPL comes
to a close, we get a final

1226
01:22:25,400 --> 01:22:27,200
update from Perseverance.

1227
01:22:30,520 --> 01:22:33,480
It's still trundling
towards La Orotava.

1228
01:22:34,800 --> 01:22:38,040
The telemetry showing
it's completed another

1229
01:22:38,040 --> 01:22:41,600
240 metres and 70 centimetres
of auto nav driving.

1230
01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:47,720
It's 200 metres short
of the crater.

1231
01:22:47,720 --> 01:22:51,240
But it's still been a remarkable
week.

1232
01:22:51,240 --> 01:22:53,880
So are you happy with the way
the rover's performed?

1233
01:22:53,880 --> 01:22:57,360
Because I know that this was a big
week for you, making this transition

1234
01:22:57,360 --> 01:23:00,880
from the first scientific
campaign to the long drive

1235
01:23:00,880 --> 01:23:02,000
around to the delta.

1236
01:23:02,000 --> 01:23:03,800
Yes, this was a big week
for the mission

1237
01:23:03,800 --> 01:23:05,040
and a major turning point.

1238
01:23:05,040 --> 01:23:07,560
We've been moving our way slowly
through the crater floor.

1239
01:23:07,560 --> 01:23:10,520
But now with this goal of getting
to the delta as quickly as possible,

1240
01:23:10,520 --> 01:23:14,360
we're really flexing the rover's
legs, so to speak, and trying

1241
01:23:14,360 --> 01:23:15,600
out a new mode of operation.

1242
01:23:15,600 --> 01:23:18,440
And that led to some unexpected
surprises for us.

1243
01:23:18,440 --> 01:23:20,480
Yeah, that's what I find
really interesting.

1244
01:23:20,480 --> 01:23:22,960
What I've learned is that, even
though you know this rover

1245
01:23:22,960 --> 01:23:27,400
well, now, the moment you ask
it to do something slightly

1246
01:23:27,400 --> 01:23:30,400
different, then you learn
a lot more about the rover.

1247
01:23:30,400 --> 01:23:33,240
But the way it behaves on Mars
and that terrain

1248
01:23:33,240 --> 01:23:34,880
can always surprise us.

1249
01:23:38,880 --> 01:23:43,440
This is the rover's eye view
of the journey it's made this week.

1250
01:23:43,440 --> 01:23:47,280
Even with the hiccups, the drill
stuck in a rock, and the day lost

1251
01:23:47,280 --> 01:23:48,840
to a software error,

1252
01:23:48,840 --> 01:23:52,800
Perseverance has still covered
over a kilometre.

1253
01:23:52,800 --> 01:23:58,240
At 1003 metres, it's the furthest
any planetary rover has ever

1254
01:23:58,240 --> 01:24:01,040
travelled in such a short
space of time.

1255
01:24:10,200 --> 01:24:13,000
JPL's motto is Dare Mighty Things.

1256
01:24:14,720 --> 01:24:18,720
And after spending a week watching
Perseverance drive over the surface

1257
01:24:18,720 --> 01:24:21,160
of Mars in search of alien life,

1258
01:24:21,160 --> 01:24:24,840
my overriding impression is that
that is entirely appropriate.

1259
01:24:24,840 --> 01:24:28,280
The sheer engineering excellence,

1260
01:24:28,280 --> 01:24:30,160
the attention to detail,

1261
01:24:30,160 --> 01:24:35,200
the teamwork required to do that
is nothing short of astounding.

1262
01:24:35,200 --> 01:24:40,520
It turns out that, if we try to
answer the most profound questions,

1263
01:24:40,520 --> 01:24:43,560
to acquire new knowledge
about the universe, not

1264
01:24:43,560 --> 01:24:48,160
because it's useful in some sense,
but just because we want to know,

1265
01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:50,040
brings out the best in us.

1266
01:25:00,280 --> 01:25:02,600
But the end of our week at JPL

1267
01:25:02,600 --> 01:25:04,720
is not the end of the story.

1268
01:25:06,920 --> 01:25:10,320
Several weeks later,
Ingenuity is still flying.

1269
01:25:11,800 --> 01:25:14,640
It's now clocked up almost an hour
of flight time,

1270
01:25:14,640 --> 01:25:18,480
and is still sending
back remarkable aerial photographs,

1271
01:25:18,480 --> 01:25:20,520
including these images

1272
01:25:20,520 --> 01:25:22,360
of the mission's parachute

1273
01:25:22,360 --> 01:25:24,200
and protective back shell,

1274
01:25:24,200 --> 01:25:27,320
that were last seen as they were
jettisoned on the descent

1275
01:25:27,320 --> 01:25:29,040
on to the Martian surface.

1276
01:25:31,000 --> 01:25:34,720
Ingenuity made it to the delta
in another seven hops

1277
01:25:34,720 --> 01:25:36,560
across the Seitah sand dunes.

1278
01:25:39,440 --> 01:25:41,840
And the rover kept on driving.

1279
01:25:44,240 --> 01:25:49,160
Covering the remaining 4km in just
31 days,

1280
01:25:49,160 --> 01:25:53,400
capturing some truly wonderful
pictures, as it approached the steep

1281
01:25:53,400 --> 01:25:54,800
scarps of the Delta.

1282
01:25:57,040 --> 01:26:00,120
The rover and helicopter
are already investigating

1283
01:26:00,120 --> 01:26:02,120
the delta sedimentary rocks.

1284
01:26:04,200 --> 01:26:08,880
And have begun searching them
for the faint signs of ancient life.

1285
01:26:10,080 --> 01:26:12,320
Whatever Perseverance finds,

1286
01:26:12,320 --> 01:26:16,960
it will tell us something
important about ourselves.

1287
01:26:24,080 --> 01:26:26,720
I think there are three
possibilities for what Perseverance

1288
01:26:26,720 --> 01:26:29,040
might find on Mars.

1289
01:26:29,040 --> 01:26:32,920
One, which sounds like the most
disappointing possibility,

1290
01:26:32,920 --> 01:26:35,080
is it sees no sign of life at all.

1291
01:26:35,080 --> 01:26:39,040
If we establish that there was water
in Jezero Crater,

1292
01:26:39,040 --> 01:26:41,800
all the conditions
were right - geological activity,

1293
01:26:41,800 --> 01:26:43,400
all the right ingredients,

1294
01:26:43,400 --> 01:26:46,320
and yet, life did not begin.

1295
01:26:46,320 --> 01:26:50,040
Then that may be telling us
that we're alone, certainly

1296
01:26:50,040 --> 01:26:51,520
in our neighbourhood.

1297
01:26:51,520 --> 01:26:54,760
The second possibility
is that we find life.

1298
01:26:54,760 --> 01:26:58,760
But the life is very similar
to life here on Earth.

1299
01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:00,480
That would be... It would be
wonderful.

1300
01:27:00,480 --> 01:27:03,080
We'd know that there are two
planets in our solar system

1301
01:27:03,080 --> 01:27:04,520
that are living worlds.

1302
01:27:04,520 --> 01:27:07,560
But it might suggest that
there was only one genesis

1303
01:27:07,560 --> 01:27:09,040
in our solar system.

1304
01:27:09,040 --> 01:27:12,760
But we know that material
moves from Mars to Earth.

1305
01:27:12,760 --> 01:27:15,920
We have Martian meteorites
here, and from Earth to Mars.

1306
01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:20,560
And so, then, I suppose, the story
becomes, "Where did life begin?"

1307
01:27:20,560 --> 01:27:24,000
It is certainly possible that life
began on Mars,

1308
01:27:24,000 --> 01:27:27,360
and was transferred
here to Earth.

1309
01:27:27,360 --> 01:27:30,080
I suppose, in that sense,
we're Martians.

1310
01:27:30,080 --> 01:27:31,880
What a discovery that would be.

1311
01:27:33,800 --> 01:27:37,800
The third possibility is
that we find signs that life existed

1312
01:27:37,800 --> 01:27:40,760
on Mars, and that life is
very different to the life we see

1313
01:27:40,760 --> 01:27:43,120
here on Earth - has a different
biochemistry.

1314
01:27:43,120 --> 01:27:45,320
There was a different genesis.

1315
01:27:45,320 --> 01:27:47,720
That would mean that life began

1316
01:27:47,720 --> 01:27:51,280
separately in two places
in our solar system,

1317
01:27:51,280 --> 01:27:54,280
and that will tell us a tremendous
amount, because it will tell us

1318
01:27:54,280 --> 01:27:57,320
that we can assume that wherever
the conditions

1319
01:27:57,320 --> 01:27:59,960
are right, life begins.

1320
01:27:59,960 --> 01:28:02,800
That will be a profound discovery,

1321
01:28:02,800 --> 01:28:04,640
will change the way we think

1322
01:28:04,640 --> 01:28:06,080
of our universe,

1323
01:28:06,080 --> 01:28:10,400
because it will mean that we are in
a living universe.

1324
01:28:10,400 --> 01:28:12,640
It should change the way you look at
those points of light

1325
01:28:12,640 --> 01:28:13,840
in the sky.

1326
01:28:13,840 --> 01:28:16,640
Many of them, most of them
have planets around them.

1327
01:28:16,640 --> 01:28:20,080
And I think we'll be able to assume
that a good number of them

1328
01:28:20,080 --> 01:28:21,400
are living worlds.