1 00:00:00,482 --> 00:00:03,982 (light dramatic music) 2 00:00:03,982 --> 00:00:04,932 Venus. 3 00:00:05,892 --> 00:00:08,522 Other than the moon, it's the brightest object 4 00:00:08,522 --> 00:00:09,555 in the night sky. 5 00:00:11,202 --> 00:00:13,645 Captivating men and women for millennia. 6 00:00:14,732 --> 00:00:17,132 Named for the Roman goddess of beauty, 7 00:00:17,132 --> 00:00:19,985 the heavenly orb has an ugly side too. 8 00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:21,922 (thunder rumbling) 9 00:00:21,922 --> 00:00:24,002 It's a very hellish place. 10 00:00:24,002 --> 00:00:26,222 Sulfuric acid at the surface. 11 00:00:26,222 --> 00:00:29,022 Seems to be an inherently volcanic world 12 00:00:29,022 --> 00:00:31,072 with an atmosphere that ran amok. 13 00:00:31,072 --> 00:00:33,032 But Earth's sister planet 14 00:00:33,032 --> 00:00:35,902 may not have always been so inhospitable. 15 00:00:35,902 --> 00:00:38,272 We think that Venus may once have looked more 16 00:00:38,272 --> 00:00:39,942 like Earth in the past. 17 00:00:39,942 --> 00:00:42,302 Now, after decades of neglect, 18 00:00:42,302 --> 00:00:44,632 planetary scientists turn their attention 19 00:00:44,632 --> 00:00:47,385 back to the solar system's second planet. 20 00:00:48,532 --> 00:00:51,719 To unlock secrets of our world's past, 21 00:00:51,719 --> 00:00:53,622 and perhaps what's ahead. 22 00:00:53,622 --> 00:00:56,142 Venus is the once and future Earth. 23 00:00:56,142 --> 00:00:58,815 Prepare to voyage to Venus. 24 00:01:00,448 --> 00:01:03,531 {\an8}(dramatic whooshing) 25 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,930 {\an8}(light dramatic music) 26 00:01:08,912 --> 00:01:10,154 Okay, Peter, we copy. 27 00:01:10,154 --> 00:01:12,555 We are proceeding into the IOSPI lock checkup. 28 00:01:13,992 --> 00:01:16,992 NASA is heading out into deep space once again. 29 00:01:18,542 --> 00:01:22,312 With an initial price tag of $500 million each, 30 00:01:22,312 --> 00:01:26,032 two new programs, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, 31 00:01:26,032 --> 00:01:28,242 will launch planetary probes designed 32 00:01:28,242 --> 00:01:30,485 to visit Venus within a decade. 33 00:01:31,672 --> 00:01:34,992 {\an8}We hope these missions will further our understanding 34 00:01:34,992 --> 00:01:39,432 {\an8}of how Earth evolved and why it's currently habitable 35 00:01:39,432 --> 00:01:42,802 when others in our solar system are not. 36 00:01:42,802 --> 00:01:45,372 By gathering new data about Venus, 37 00:01:45,372 --> 00:01:48,019 scientists also expect to learn about Earth 38 00:01:48,019 --> 00:01:49,705 and the evolution of life. 39 00:01:52,322 --> 00:01:55,932 Two rocky bodies, roughly the same size, 40 00:01:55,932 --> 00:01:58,532 astronomical next door neighbors 41 00:01:58,532 --> 00:02:01,515 both formed about four and a half billion years ago. 42 00:02:05,732 --> 00:02:08,652 How did two worlds with so much in common 43 00:02:08,652 --> 00:02:10,242 become so different? 44 00:02:10,242 --> 00:02:13,272 It's this amazing cosmic accident, right? 45 00:02:13,272 --> 00:02:16,662 {\an8}That we have two planets that are so much alike. 46 00:02:16,662 --> 00:02:18,772 {\an8}It's like every scientist's dream that you have 47 00:02:18,772 --> 00:02:20,372 {\an8}like a control case. 48 00:02:20,372 --> 00:02:21,762 Venus is very special. 49 00:02:21,762 --> 00:02:23,362 She's the most Earth-like world 50 00:02:23,362 --> 00:02:24,895 that we know the least about. 51 00:02:25,782 --> 00:02:28,042 She has this massive atmosphere, 52 00:02:28,042 --> 00:02:31,022 an atmosphere that is 100 times that of Earth's, 53 00:02:31,022 --> 00:02:33,332 {\an8}which is layered and structured 54 00:02:33,332 --> 00:02:36,332 {\an8}and telling a story that we haven't read yet. 55 00:02:36,332 --> 00:02:38,382 Inspired by the Italian artist, 56 00:02:38,382 --> 00:02:41,772 Leonardo DaVinci, Garvin and the team created 57 00:02:41,772 --> 00:02:44,542 an acronym to name their mission 58 00:02:44,542 --> 00:02:46,685 and honor the original Renaissance man. 59 00:02:48,092 --> 00:02:49,382 I was always struck by him. 60 00:02:49,382 --> 00:02:52,735 His writings in science, engineering, art, 61 00:02:53,572 --> 00:02:56,112 all came together with imaginative creation. 62 00:02:56,112 --> 00:02:57,622 Some of which even look like spacecraft 63 00:02:57,622 --> 00:02:59,092 that could go to Venus. 64 00:02:59,092 --> 00:03:01,792 Fittingly, now one bearing his name, 65 00:03:01,792 --> 00:03:03,252 will make that journey. 66 00:03:03,252 --> 00:03:06,562 Currently scheduled to launch in 2029. 67 00:03:06,562 --> 00:03:08,882 The plans include a carrier spacecraft 68 00:03:08,882 --> 00:03:10,912 which will fly by Venus twice 69 00:03:10,912 --> 00:03:12,972 before releasing the descent probe, 70 00:03:12,972 --> 00:03:17,002 protected by a heat shield seven feet in diameter. 71 00:03:17,002 --> 00:03:18,832 That will carry us into that atmosphere, 72 00:03:18,832 --> 00:03:21,002 handle the peak heating of that entry 73 00:03:21,002 --> 00:03:23,062 and then jettison the heat shield 74 00:03:23,062 --> 00:03:25,142 so our probe will be exposed to the atmosphere 75 00:03:25,142 --> 00:03:27,742 in the upper clouds around 70 kilometers. 76 00:03:27,742 --> 00:03:29,952 And that's when our mission begins. 77 00:03:29,952 --> 00:03:31,512 That multi-pronged mission, 78 00:03:31,512 --> 00:03:33,402 to examine the elemental properties 79 00:03:33,402 --> 00:03:36,872 of the Venusian atmosphere, image and identify 80 00:03:36,872 --> 00:03:38,495 the character of the landscape, 81 00:03:39,372 --> 00:03:42,692 and ultimately land on the surface. 82 00:03:42,692 --> 00:03:44,942 We are sending what I like to call 83 00:03:44,942 --> 00:03:47,772 a flying rover chemistry lab. 84 00:03:47,772 --> 00:03:49,662 And it will be in the form of a special probe, 85 00:03:49,662 --> 00:03:51,762 not unlike a diving bell that you would need 86 00:03:51,762 --> 00:03:53,262 to go into the deep ocean. 87 00:03:53,262 --> 00:03:57,182 That vehicle is designed to handle environmental changes 88 00:03:57,182 --> 00:04:01,072 that go from super cold and almost no atmosphere 89 00:04:01,072 --> 00:04:02,842 to super hot and high pressure 90 00:04:02,842 --> 00:04:05,002 all in the period of about an hour. 91 00:04:05,002 --> 00:04:06,421 That's tough. 92 00:04:06,421 --> 00:04:11,421 (dramatic whooshing) (light dramatic music) 93 00:04:11,862 --> 00:04:14,842 Three, two, one. Almost 60 years ago, 94 00:04:14,842 --> 00:04:18,382 Mariner 2 rocketed planetary science into high gear 95 00:04:18,382 --> 00:04:21,542 when it became the first spacecraft to successfully 96 00:04:21,542 --> 00:04:25,115 visit another planet with a flyby of Venus. 97 00:04:26,812 --> 00:04:29,692 The Soviet Union's Venera Missions landed 98 00:04:29,692 --> 00:04:31,492 multiple probes on the surface. 99 00:04:31,492 --> 00:04:35,475 Brief encounters which exposed the planet's desolation. 100 00:04:36,552 --> 00:04:40,022 The Pioneer Multiprobe was the last American mission 101 00:04:40,022 --> 00:04:44,765 to enter and study the atmosphere of Venus in 1978. 102 00:04:46,912 --> 00:04:49,202 And the Magellan spacecraft, deployed from 103 00:04:49,202 --> 00:04:51,772 the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989, 104 00:04:51,772 --> 00:04:54,962 was the first to map the entire surface of Venus, 105 00:04:54,962 --> 00:04:56,725 revealing volcanic activity. 106 00:04:58,292 --> 00:05:00,922 However, Mars soon stole the spotlight 107 00:05:00,922 --> 00:05:03,012 of planetary exploration. 108 00:05:03,012 --> 00:05:06,202 In part, because of the greater engineering challenges 109 00:05:06,202 --> 00:05:08,262 presented by Venus. 110 00:05:08,262 --> 00:05:10,622 Venus presents a very tough challenge: 111 00:05:10,622 --> 00:05:12,572 a big atmosphere, hard to get into, 112 00:05:12,572 --> 00:05:14,902 hard to survive at the surface where the pressure 113 00:05:14,902 --> 00:05:17,062 and temperature are equivalent to being half a mile 114 00:05:17,062 --> 00:05:19,572 deep in the ocean at temperatures that are twice 115 00:05:19,572 --> 00:05:21,022 the temperature of your oven. 116 00:05:22,752 --> 00:05:24,802 But the success of the Mars programs 117 00:05:24,802 --> 00:05:27,432 serve as scientific building blocks 118 00:05:27,432 --> 00:05:29,815 and inform what's possible elsewhere. 119 00:05:30,942 --> 00:05:34,222 What we've done at Mars is shown the next generation 120 00:05:34,222 --> 00:05:36,682 of exploration techniques, instruments, 121 00:05:36,682 --> 00:05:39,582 vehicles, science questions, computing, 122 00:05:39,582 --> 00:05:42,032 models of states of past climates. 123 00:05:42,032 --> 00:05:43,872 We can now apply what we've learned in Mars 124 00:05:43,872 --> 00:05:45,982 and in Earth to Venus. 125 00:05:45,982 --> 00:05:47,342 What a perfect time. 126 00:05:47,342 --> 00:05:49,742 Including cutting edge capabilities 127 00:05:49,742 --> 00:05:52,852 ready to be employed by these two missions, 128 00:05:52,852 --> 00:05:55,222 VERITAS and DAVINCI+. 129 00:05:55,222 --> 00:05:58,402 This is the first full-scale titanium test unit 130 00:05:58,402 --> 00:06:01,352 of DAVINCI+, about a meter across. 131 00:06:01,352 --> 00:06:04,372 We've tested this to 450 degrees centigrade 132 00:06:04,372 --> 00:06:07,342 and have confirmation that our instruments inside this, 133 00:06:07,342 --> 00:06:08,862 which look like this at small scale 134 00:06:08,862 --> 00:06:13,082 all packed in there underneath this outer pressure vessel, 135 00:06:13,082 --> 00:06:14,682 will do well. 136 00:06:14,682 --> 00:06:16,842 You can see one of the inlet systems here 137 00:06:16,842 --> 00:06:19,852 that will be ingesting gases multiple times 138 00:06:19,852 --> 00:06:22,792 through the transect of the atmosphere, some in the clouds, 139 00:06:22,792 --> 00:06:24,612 and then every couple of hundred meters 140 00:06:24,612 --> 00:06:25,982 as we come out of the clouds. 141 00:06:25,982 --> 00:06:29,672 So we'll be literally tasting Venus all the way down, 142 00:06:29,672 --> 00:06:31,862 using a system like this. 143 00:06:31,862 --> 00:06:34,032 The five primary science instruments 144 00:06:34,032 --> 00:06:36,955 will work like the five senses of the human body. 145 00:06:36,955 --> 00:06:37,912 {\an8}(light music) 146 00:06:37,912 --> 00:06:40,792 {\an8}Two analytical spectrometers to pinpoint 147 00:06:40,792 --> 00:06:43,722 {\an8}the chemical composition of the atmosphere. 148 00:06:43,722 --> 00:06:47,992 The Venus Atmospheric Structure Investigation, or VASI, 149 00:06:47,992 --> 00:06:51,652 which will measure winds, pressure and temperature. 150 00:06:51,652 --> 00:06:56,252 A student experiment named VFox to investigate the cycle 151 00:06:56,252 --> 00:06:59,182 of small levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. 152 00:06:59,182 --> 00:07:02,482 {\an8}And the Venus Descent Imager, known as VENDI, 153 00:07:02,482 --> 00:07:04,192 {\an8}located at the bottom. 154 00:07:04,192 --> 00:07:07,232 {\an8}The instruments need to fit together almost 155 00:07:07,232 --> 00:07:10,762 {\an8}like jigsaw puzzles to make the most of the volume 156 00:07:10,762 --> 00:07:13,592 that we have within this very special envelope 157 00:07:13,592 --> 00:07:15,075 of our descent sphere. 158 00:07:16,002 --> 00:07:19,792 We're gonna take a lot of that instrument capability 159 00:07:19,792 --> 00:07:23,892 and apply it to the big questions about Venus. 160 00:07:23,892 --> 00:07:25,202 Questions that scientists 161 00:07:25,202 --> 00:07:26,925 have been posing for years. 162 00:07:28,433 --> 00:07:31,905 (grounds rustling) 163 00:07:31,905 --> 00:07:34,412 (light music) 164 00:07:34,412 --> 00:07:38,002 In many respects, the investigations of Mars and Venus 165 00:07:38,002 --> 00:07:39,642 are looking for the same thing: 166 00:07:39,642 --> 00:07:41,972 evidence of water, present today, 167 00:07:41,972 --> 00:07:44,282 or perhaps long long ago. 168 00:07:44,282 --> 00:07:47,482 We wanna understand if Venus, which we think of 169 00:07:47,482 --> 00:07:50,812 as Earth's evil twin, was more like her identical twin 170 00:07:50,812 --> 00:07:52,165 in the distant past. 171 00:07:53,482 --> 00:07:55,872 That means vast surface oceans 172 00:07:55,872 --> 00:07:58,152 that could have harbored life. 173 00:07:58,152 --> 00:08:01,072 While life on Earth was rising and evolving, 174 00:08:01,072 --> 00:08:04,152 it's possible that Venus was also a place 175 00:08:04,152 --> 00:08:06,552 that those processes could happen. 176 00:08:06,552 --> 00:08:09,062 We're gonna look for chemical fingerprints 177 00:08:09,062 --> 00:08:12,212 {\an8}that may indicate that Venus was once habitable in the past. 178 00:08:12,212 --> 00:08:15,402 {\an8}So, by reading these records on Venus today, 179 00:08:15,402 --> 00:08:19,322 we might be able to infer that Venus was a nice place 180 00:08:19,322 --> 00:08:20,422 to live in the past. 181 00:08:20,422 --> 00:08:22,422 Maybe a place that we'd wanna visit. 182 00:08:22,422 --> 00:08:24,562 Understanding Venus's story 183 00:08:24,562 --> 00:08:27,972 can aid the search for life outside our solar system, 184 00:08:27,972 --> 00:08:31,912 as astronomers discover new planets around other stars. 185 00:08:31,912 --> 00:08:33,812 By studying Venus and discovering if 186 00:08:33,812 --> 00:08:35,882 it was truly habitable, we might discover that 187 00:08:35,882 --> 00:08:38,380 the habitable zone boundaries are fuzzy. 188 00:08:38,380 --> 00:08:40,832 You know, maybe you can have habitability 189 00:08:40,832 --> 00:08:44,962 beyond those boundaries in ways that are surprising. 190 00:08:44,962 --> 00:08:47,722 High resolution images will help categorize 191 00:08:47,722 --> 00:08:50,385 the makeup of Venus's surface materials. 192 00:08:51,422 --> 00:08:53,412 We wanna look for things like granites. 193 00:08:53,412 --> 00:08:56,402 Granites are really interesting because, at least on Earth, 194 00:08:56,402 --> 00:08:58,302 they form from water-rock interactions 195 00:08:58,302 --> 00:09:00,349 and also cotton and building processes. 196 00:09:01,207 --> 00:09:04,207 (thunder rumbling) 197 00:09:07,062 --> 00:09:08,782 DAVINCI+'s camera work will include 198 00:09:08,782 --> 00:09:11,442 more than static landscapes. 199 00:09:11,442 --> 00:09:15,102 VENDI will create dynamic 3D relief models 200 00:09:15,102 --> 00:09:17,692 at an incredible meter in scale. 201 00:09:17,692 --> 00:09:20,935 Layering images taken all along its descent. 202 00:09:22,592 --> 00:09:24,982 A system already successfully tested 203 00:09:24,982 --> 00:09:28,025 by matching the probe's drop speed in a helicopter. 204 00:09:29,822 --> 00:09:33,242 VENDI will be looking out the south pole of the probe. 205 00:09:33,242 --> 00:09:36,002 What the team calls the Eye of Venus, 206 00:09:36,002 --> 00:09:38,462 a window made of sapphire. 207 00:09:38,462 --> 00:09:41,472 This little piece is a really important piece of hardware. 208 00:09:41,472 --> 00:09:43,832 We've tested this in Venus-relevant conditions 209 00:09:43,832 --> 00:09:45,272 and it works great. 210 00:09:45,272 --> 00:09:47,472 As the probe is falling through the atmosphere 211 00:09:47,472 --> 00:09:50,162 this is what the camera's gonna be looking through, 212 00:09:50,162 --> 00:09:52,432 and we're gonna get spectacular views of the surface. 213 00:09:52,432 --> 00:09:54,282 We're gonna be taking thousands of images 214 00:09:54,282 --> 00:09:56,432 all the way down to the surface. 215 00:09:56,432 --> 00:09:57,882 We're gonna be able to distinguish 216 00:09:57,882 --> 00:09:59,112 different mineral types. 217 00:09:59,112 --> 00:10:02,002 It is very exciting once we get below the cloud deck. 218 00:10:02,002 --> 00:10:03,873 You might think this is a small window, 219 00:10:03,873 --> 00:10:05,582 but I don't know, I looks pretty big to me. 220 00:10:05,582 --> 00:10:07,972 This is gonna be a new world exposed. 221 00:10:07,972 --> 00:10:10,742 If DAVINCI+ will explore Venus close-up, 222 00:10:10,742 --> 00:10:13,482 VERITAS, launching in 2028, 223 00:10:13,482 --> 00:10:16,565 will examine the planet from a distance in orbit. 224 00:10:17,492 --> 00:10:21,212 We will enhance the science that can be obtained 225 00:10:21,212 --> 00:10:24,882 from both missions by having these two missions together. 226 00:10:24,882 --> 00:10:27,092 So we can compare the visual images 227 00:10:27,092 --> 00:10:29,922 that they will take to our radar images 228 00:10:29,922 --> 00:10:32,742 and that will enhance our ability to interpret 229 00:10:32,742 --> 00:10:35,852 the radar images, just as the global context 230 00:10:35,852 --> 00:10:38,052 that we provide enhances their ability 231 00:10:38,052 --> 00:10:40,902 to interpret their local observations. 232 00:10:40,902 --> 00:10:43,732 Three decades ago, Smrekar collaborated 233 00:10:43,732 --> 00:10:46,225 on the successful Magellan mapping mission. 234 00:10:47,492 --> 00:10:51,182 Now using radar technologies developed to study Earth, 235 00:10:51,182 --> 00:10:53,822 VERITAS will return data from Venus 236 00:10:53,822 --> 00:10:57,115 100 times more detailed than its predecessors. 237 00:10:58,112 --> 00:11:00,972 The size that VERITAS wants to accomplish 238 00:11:00,972 --> 00:11:03,462 is looking at the planet holistically. 239 00:11:03,462 --> 00:11:06,992 We want to understand what makes rocky planets tick. 240 00:11:06,992 --> 00:11:08,832 We wanted to understand the geologic engine 241 00:11:08,832 --> 00:11:12,032 inside the planet, how that interacts with the surface, 242 00:11:12,032 --> 00:11:15,182 how it drives volcanism, how it drives faulting, 243 00:11:15,182 --> 00:11:17,892 and what that means for the atmosphere. 244 00:11:17,892 --> 00:11:19,692 Examining landscape features 245 00:11:19,692 --> 00:11:21,552 also found on Earth. 246 00:11:21,552 --> 00:11:25,595 Like fault lines, volcanic calderas and lava flows, 247 00:11:26,552 --> 00:11:29,192 and searching for evidence of subduction. 248 00:11:29,192 --> 00:11:31,872 That's when tectonic plates edge under one another 249 00:11:31,872 --> 00:11:33,765 into the hot molten interior. 250 00:11:35,182 --> 00:11:37,182 VERITAS will test theories about 251 00:11:37,182 --> 00:11:38,902 the formation of continents 252 00:11:40,013 --> 00:11:41,842 (light dramatic music) VERITAS will help us 253 00:11:41,842 --> 00:11:44,542 tell Earth's origin story. 254 00:11:44,542 --> 00:11:46,232 That process of subduction led to 255 00:11:46,232 --> 00:11:48,432 the formation of continents. 256 00:11:48,432 --> 00:11:53,432 Continents may have changed the composition of the oceans. 257 00:11:53,572 --> 00:11:54,702 Ultimately, though, 258 00:11:54,702 --> 00:11:58,422 it's about the water here on Earth and there on Venus. 259 00:11:58,422 --> 00:12:01,122 So VERITAS will employ a spectrometer 260 00:12:01,122 --> 00:12:05,362 designed to see through the clouds and map rock composition. 261 00:12:05,362 --> 00:12:08,802 Also looking for granite, like here on Earth. 262 00:12:08,802 --> 00:12:11,152 By looking for the chemical fingerprints 263 00:12:11,152 --> 00:12:14,092 of continental analogs on Venus, 264 00:12:14,092 --> 00:12:17,935 we will also be pinning down that history of surface water. 265 00:12:18,912 --> 00:12:21,042 You know, we'll get a better idea of how old 266 00:12:21,042 --> 00:12:23,892 those continents are, if they have the right composition 267 00:12:23,892 --> 00:12:25,742 to have formed the presence of water. 268 00:12:27,212 --> 00:12:28,892 And we'll also look for water coming 269 00:12:28,892 --> 00:12:30,432 out of the interior today, 270 00:12:30,432 --> 00:12:33,062 that would be just hugely important for understanding 271 00:12:33,062 --> 00:12:35,792 the evolution of the history of water 272 00:12:35,792 --> 00:12:38,862 on the surface and in the atmosphere of Venus. 273 00:12:38,862 --> 00:12:42,122 But those ancient oceans are long since gone, 274 00:12:42,122 --> 00:12:46,162 and the teams of VERITAS and DAVINCI+ want to know why. 275 00:12:46,162 --> 00:12:48,902 Why the divergent pathway relative to our Earth? 276 00:12:48,902 --> 00:12:52,262 Why didn't she stay cool and neat and oceanic? 277 00:12:52,262 --> 00:12:54,972 What went wrong? What went right for her history? 278 00:12:54,972 --> 00:12:57,812 How can we disentangle that history? 279 00:12:57,812 --> 00:12:59,062 Because that's important. 280 00:13:00,302 --> 00:13:02,182 It may be that Venus is a magic mirror 281 00:13:02,182 --> 00:13:05,382 that's reflecting the future of Earth back to our planet. 282 00:13:05,382 --> 00:13:07,852 So these same processes involving, you know, 283 00:13:07,852 --> 00:13:12,012 the shutdown of geological activity as the planet cools. 284 00:13:12,012 --> 00:13:14,062 These are also gonna play out on Earth 285 00:13:14,062 --> 00:13:16,352 billions of years into the future. 286 00:13:16,352 --> 00:13:18,192 Understanding Venus better 287 00:13:18,192 --> 00:13:22,942 should cast light on Earth's present and future states, too. 288 00:13:22,942 --> 00:13:26,462 We can validate and improve our climate models 289 00:13:26,462 --> 00:13:28,782 that we're using to study climate change here on Earth 290 00:13:28,782 --> 00:13:30,972 by applying those models to Venus. 291 00:13:30,972 --> 00:13:34,282 The Venus system is different, it's a lot more extreme, 292 00:13:34,282 --> 00:13:37,362 but if our models, when we take them from Earth 293 00:13:37,362 --> 00:13:39,712 and we apply them to Venus, if they don't break, 294 00:13:39,712 --> 00:13:42,442 then that means those models are more robust. 295 00:13:42,442 --> 00:13:45,922 Some have theorized, as the oceans boiled away, 296 00:13:45,922 --> 00:13:49,242 microorganisms may have migrated to the upper levels 297 00:13:49,242 --> 00:13:50,932 of the cloud decks. 298 00:13:50,932 --> 00:13:54,342 In 2020, an international team of researchers 299 00:13:54,342 --> 00:13:57,862 announced the discovery of small levels of phosphene. 300 00:13:57,862 --> 00:14:01,832 A potential bio-signature in the Venusian atmosphere. 301 00:14:01,832 --> 00:14:06,062 Analysis was reached using Earth-based radio telescopes. 302 00:14:06,062 --> 00:14:08,822 Questions about the phosphene news persist, 303 00:14:08,822 --> 00:14:11,192 and even the lead researcher suggested 304 00:14:11,192 --> 00:14:15,222 the best way to test their results was to go to Venus. 305 00:14:15,222 --> 00:14:18,122 {\an8}So maybe the only thing to do is to send a spacecraft 306 00:14:18,122 --> 00:14:20,292 {\an8}that can really sample and see if there 307 00:14:20,292 --> 00:14:21,565 {\an8}are life forms there. 308 00:14:22,592 --> 00:14:24,812 Now that's something VERITAS and DAVINCI+ 309 00:14:24,812 --> 00:14:28,825 will do, providing an unprecedented database to learn from. 310 00:14:30,202 --> 00:14:32,512 The experts that build the models 311 00:14:32,512 --> 00:14:34,632 can test their theories with real data. 312 00:14:34,632 --> 00:14:37,632 If there are intriguing chemical signatures there, 313 00:14:37,632 --> 00:14:40,052 we will be able to confirm that they are there, 314 00:14:40,052 --> 00:14:42,822 but also understand the context of the environment 315 00:14:42,822 --> 00:14:44,095 that we found them in. 316 00:14:45,132 --> 00:14:47,122 Piece that VERITAS will contribute to 317 00:14:47,122 --> 00:14:50,362 is understanding volcanism. 318 00:14:50,362 --> 00:14:53,522 That's one hypothesis that has been put forward 319 00:14:53,522 --> 00:14:56,145 as a way to produce phosphine in the atmosphere. 320 00:14:57,022 --> 00:14:58,382 For those involved with these new 321 00:14:58,382 --> 00:15:00,672 missions to Venus, the green lights 322 00:15:00,672 --> 00:15:03,082 validate years of persistence, 323 00:15:03,082 --> 00:15:06,055 passionate work and proposal refinements. 324 00:15:07,412 --> 00:15:09,462 Doing planetary science as a career 325 00:15:09,462 --> 00:15:13,522 takes a lot of patience and it takes a lot of fortitude. 326 00:15:13,522 --> 00:15:16,062 This is beyond words. 327 00:15:16,062 --> 00:15:20,242 We are so ready to bring Venus into focus for humanity 328 00:15:20,242 --> 00:15:22,692 because we think she has a story we have to tell. 329 00:15:28,157 --> 00:15:31,407 (light dramatic music)