1 00:00:02,602 --> 00:00:05,949 Narrator: Far out, near the edge of the solar system, 2 00:00:05,973 --> 00:00:08,452 where the sun's light is weak, 3 00:00:08,476 --> 00:00:11,154 lies a world that, until recently, 4 00:00:11,178 --> 00:00:13,724 was completely unexplored. 5 00:00:13,748 --> 00:00:16,259 Grinspoon: Pluto is the Everest of the solar system, 6 00:00:16,283 --> 00:00:20,464 the farthest and coldest and hardest to reach. 7 00:00:20,488 --> 00:00:22,232 Bagenal: By going to pluto, 8 00:00:22,256 --> 00:00:25,335 we were looking beyond the known solar system 9 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:28,305 and exploring a whole new world. 10 00:00:28,329 --> 00:00:30,407 Narrator: A small team of young scientists 11 00:00:30,431 --> 00:00:31,942 took it upon themselves 12 00:00:31,966 --> 00:00:34,378 to campaign for a mission to pluto. 13 00:00:34,402 --> 00:00:37,180 We have to just send it out and take those pictures 14 00:00:37,204 --> 00:00:38,682 stern: To be able to see this object 15 00:00:38,706 --> 00:00:42,352 that no humans really could glimpse. 16 00:00:42,376 --> 00:00:44,788 Narrator: Over two and a half decades later, 17 00:00:44,812 --> 00:00:46,223 they achieve their goal 18 00:00:46,247 --> 00:00:49,159 and make this one of the most unique discoveries 19 00:00:49,183 --> 00:00:51,395 in the history of space travel. 20 00:00:51,419 --> 00:00:53,497 Bagenal: It was just extraordinary. 21 00:00:53,521 --> 00:00:56,767 This was a whole new world. 22 00:00:56,791 --> 00:00:58,524 Man: We have liftoff. 23 00:01:07,867 --> 00:01:11,915 There really is something intrinsic in humans 24 00:01:11,939 --> 00:01:16,720 to want to explore. 25 00:01:16,744 --> 00:01:20,557 Grinspoon: You can look at it from an evolutionary perspective. 26 00:01:20,581 --> 00:01:23,593 We didn't have the sharpest claws or the strongest muscles, 27 00:01:23,617 --> 00:01:27,431 but we had this ability to invent and explore, 28 00:01:27,455 --> 00:01:29,855 and, you know, we had curiosity. 29 00:01:34,794 --> 00:01:39,364 Narrator: The exploration of the outer solar system began in the 1970s. 30 00:01:42,469 --> 00:01:44,347 And in 1977, 31 00:01:44,371 --> 00:01:48,218 a pair of spacecraft named voyager 1 and voyager 2 32 00:01:48,242 --> 00:01:51,421 set off to visit the most distant planets, 33 00:01:51,445 --> 00:01:54,791 including uranus and Neptune. 34 00:01:54,815 --> 00:01:58,595 Voyager 2 was the first to leave earth. 35 00:01:58,619 --> 00:02:04,301 Man: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 36 00:02:04,325 --> 00:02:08,238 We have ignition, and we have liftoff. 37 00:02:08,262 --> 00:02:16,262 ♪♪ 38 00:02:17,538 --> 00:02:19,916 Narrator: The mission would fly past Jupiter, 39 00:02:19,940 --> 00:02:25,422 then saturn, before heading for the mysterious outer worlds. 40 00:02:25,446 --> 00:02:29,192 The voyager mission was an incredible adventure 41 00:02:29,216 --> 00:02:34,164 because it was our first time to really visit all of these worlds 42 00:02:34,188 --> 00:02:36,533 and start to get to know their systems -- 43 00:02:36,557 --> 00:02:39,958 Not just the planets themselves, but their moons. 44 00:02:42,662 --> 00:02:45,642 Those of us that were involved felt almost as though 45 00:02:45,666 --> 00:02:48,645 we were on board the spacecraft looking out the little window 46 00:02:48,669 --> 00:02:51,114 when the images came up the screen for the first time. 47 00:02:51,138 --> 00:02:52,749 You're seeing these new worlds. 48 00:02:52,773 --> 00:02:59,256 ♪♪ 49 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:05,795 ♪♪ 50 00:03:05,819 --> 00:03:08,231 When we first visit these planets, they're flybys. 51 00:03:08,255 --> 00:03:09,833 You're not going into orbit, you're not landing, 52 00:03:09,857 --> 00:03:12,169 it's just a very quick visit, and you see it approaching, 53 00:03:12,193 --> 00:03:13,837 and then all of a sudden, there it is, 54 00:03:13,861 --> 00:03:15,505 and then it's in the rearview mirror, 55 00:03:15,529 --> 00:03:17,574 and you can't stop, and you're still going. 56 00:03:17,598 --> 00:03:23,947 ♪♪ 57 00:03:23,971 --> 00:03:30,353 ♪♪ 58 00:03:30,377 --> 00:03:33,757 The first pictures of uranus were a little bit boring, 59 00:03:33,781 --> 00:03:38,717 and people were a little worried about the lack of jazziness. 60 00:03:43,156 --> 00:03:45,424 Uranus is a weird planet. 61 00:03:48,294 --> 00:03:49,839 Instead of spinning, you know, 62 00:03:49,863 --> 00:03:53,076 like we're spinning 23½ degrees from vertical, 63 00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:55,378 uranus is on its side, tipped on its side. 64 00:03:55,402 --> 00:03:57,581 Very strange -- Unlike all the other planets. 65 00:03:57,605 --> 00:04:01,284 Could it have been whanged by something going by, 66 00:04:01,308 --> 00:04:02,919 tipping it over? 67 00:04:02,943 --> 00:04:04,376 We don't know. 68 00:04:07,947 --> 00:04:09,859 Systems -- attitude control? 69 00:04:09,883 --> 00:04:11,194 Man: Copy. 70 00:04:11,218 --> 00:04:13,897 We see lock up on the green box on white band. 71 00:04:13,921 --> 00:04:20,637 September 1989, we're about to arrive at Neptune. 72 00:04:20,661 --> 00:04:23,173 Copy this. Thank you. 73 00:04:23,197 --> 00:04:24,708 Vector. 74 00:04:24,732 --> 00:04:26,565 [ Hushed conversations ] 75 00:04:28,768 --> 00:04:30,013 [ Static ] 76 00:04:30,037 --> 00:04:37,554 ♪♪ 77 00:04:37,578 --> 00:04:45,061 ♪♪ 78 00:04:45,085 --> 00:04:47,497 Again, it's sort of cold and dim, 79 00:04:47,521 --> 00:04:51,134 but Neptune is really a little bit more interesting 80 00:04:51,158 --> 00:04:52,791 than uranus. 81 00:04:56,462 --> 00:05:01,044 We see a blue atmosphere, dark, deep clouds, 82 00:05:01,068 --> 00:05:04,481 and then some white clouds above, 83 00:05:04,505 --> 00:05:08,485 but perhaps the most important thing about Neptune's system 84 00:05:08,509 --> 00:05:11,655 is the big moon, triton. 85 00:05:11,679 --> 00:05:17,560 ♪♪ 86 00:05:17,584 --> 00:05:23,433 ♪♪ 87 00:05:23,457 --> 00:05:27,103 We are pretty sure at this point that triton formed 88 00:05:27,127 --> 00:05:29,339 orbiting the sun, just as pluto did, 89 00:05:29,363 --> 00:05:31,174 and somehow, early in the solar system, 90 00:05:31,198 --> 00:05:34,199 we got captured into orbit around Neptune. 91 00:05:39,072 --> 00:05:43,286 We saw landscapes like nothing we had ever seen before -- 92 00:05:43,310 --> 00:05:45,322 Looked like melted wax. 93 00:05:45,346 --> 00:05:47,190 It was clearly a very active world. 94 00:05:47,214 --> 00:05:48,391 There weren't many craters. 95 00:05:48,415 --> 00:05:51,828 So things had been happening very recently. 96 00:05:51,852 --> 00:05:55,965 The most exciting thing and the weird thing that we saw 97 00:05:55,989 --> 00:06:02,127 were black plumes of smoke coming up out of some hole. 98 00:06:03,796 --> 00:06:07,366 [ Murmurs and applause ] 99 00:06:09,235 --> 00:06:12,082 Grinspoon: And seeing that, which was thought 100 00:06:12,106 --> 00:06:13,616 sort of to be a twin of pluto, 101 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,485 I think a lot of people were thinking, "well, wait a minute. 102 00:06:15,509 --> 00:06:16,920 There are other worlds out there." 103 00:06:16,944 --> 00:06:18,254 [ Static ] 104 00:06:18,278 --> 00:06:25,128 ♪♪ 105 00:06:25,152 --> 00:06:32,001 ♪♪ 106 00:06:32,025 --> 00:06:35,739 For many of us, it was, "now what?" 107 00:06:35,763 --> 00:06:38,208 What are we gonna do after voyager? 108 00:06:38,232 --> 00:06:40,643 Is there life after voyager?" 109 00:06:40,667 --> 00:06:48,667 ♪♪ 110 00:06:50,577 --> 00:06:54,524 I was lucky because a young man called Alan stern -- 111 00:06:54,548 --> 00:06:57,627 He was a graduate student -- Came up to me and said, 112 00:06:57,651 --> 00:07:00,029 "what about pluto? 113 00:07:00,053 --> 00:07:01,987 I think we should go to pluto." 114 00:07:05,024 --> 00:07:07,437 After voyageur had the smashing success 115 00:07:07,461 --> 00:07:09,339 all the way across the solar system, 116 00:07:09,363 --> 00:07:13,610 the United States postal service issued a set of stamps, 117 00:07:13,634 --> 00:07:16,646 and on each stamp, they featured the spacecraft 118 00:07:16,670 --> 00:07:19,682 and mission that had been first to that planet. 119 00:07:19,706 --> 00:07:22,886 But for pluto, there had been no exploration. 120 00:07:22,910 --> 00:07:26,356 So they had this lame stamp. 121 00:07:26,380 --> 00:07:31,983 And that stamp became a dare that we should finish this off. 122 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,235 I knew there was a chance that, in my lifetime, 123 00:07:39,259 --> 00:07:45,175 in my career, we could send a space probe off to pluto. 124 00:07:45,199 --> 00:07:48,411 What we didn't know is we were embarking on an adventure 125 00:07:48,435 --> 00:07:50,680 that would last most of our careers. 126 00:07:50,704 --> 00:07:55,952 ♪♪ 127 00:07:55,976 --> 00:07:59,622 This path to pluto all began with Clyde tombaugh. 128 00:07:59,646 --> 00:08:02,325 Clyde tombaugh was an amazing person. 129 00:08:02,349 --> 00:08:04,194 Announcer: The United States was in the grip 130 00:08:04,218 --> 00:08:05,962 of a paralyzing depression. 131 00:08:05,986 --> 00:08:10,033 Millions were unemployed, on some form of relief. 132 00:08:10,057 --> 00:08:12,268 Grinspoon: He grew up very poor 133 00:08:12,292 --> 00:08:15,805 on a farm in Kansas during the depression, 134 00:08:15,829 --> 00:08:18,842 and as a young kid became enthralled with astronomy 135 00:08:18,866 --> 00:08:22,579 and was self-taught from the local library. 136 00:08:22,603 --> 00:08:25,882 Narrator: In 1928, the young farmer built a telescope 137 00:08:25,906 --> 00:08:28,351 using the crankshaft of an old buick 138 00:08:28,375 --> 00:08:31,187 and pieces of farm equipment, 139 00:08:31,211 --> 00:08:32,722 he dreamed of being an astronomer 140 00:08:32,746 --> 00:08:37,327 but had no plan, no idea how this poor kid 141 00:08:37,351 --> 00:08:42,732 in depression-era Kansas could ever get off the farm. 142 00:08:42,756 --> 00:08:45,368 Well, I was interested in knowledge, 143 00:08:45,392 --> 00:08:47,770 and so, of course, I was fascinated 144 00:08:47,794 --> 00:08:51,274 by what I saw in the sky. 145 00:08:51,298 --> 00:08:55,600 And so I made drawings of Mars and Jupiter. 146 00:08:58,037 --> 00:08:59,682 Narrator: Tombaugh sent his drawings off 147 00:08:59,706 --> 00:09:03,920 to the lowell observatory in Arizona. 148 00:09:03,944 --> 00:09:05,955 They were so impressed by his work 149 00:09:05,979 --> 00:09:08,892 that they offered him a job. 150 00:09:08,916 --> 00:09:12,061 The job was to go off to search for the planet 151 00:09:12,085 --> 00:09:14,931 out beyond Neptune. 152 00:09:14,955 --> 00:09:16,633 Narrator: For decades, there had been a theory 153 00:09:16,657 --> 00:09:19,558 about a hidden planet out beyond Neptune. 154 00:09:22,662 --> 00:09:25,808 Percival lowell, a wealthy businessman and astronomer, 155 00:09:25,832 --> 00:09:27,877 had become obsessed with the theory 156 00:09:27,901 --> 00:09:29,612 and spent the latter part of his life 157 00:09:29,636 --> 00:09:32,181 searching for the mysterious planet, 158 00:09:32,205 --> 00:09:34,817 but never found it. 159 00:09:34,841 --> 00:09:38,288 After his death in 1916, the lowell observatory 160 00:09:38,312 --> 00:09:41,112 that he had founded continued the search. 161 00:09:43,849 --> 00:09:45,895 They had been trying, early years, to find it, 162 00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:47,697 but without any success, 163 00:09:47,721 --> 00:09:50,555 and they weren't doing too thorough a job of it either. 164 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:58,174 You have to have a very strong mental concentration, 165 00:09:58,198 --> 00:10:00,510 otherwise -- you can't let your mind wander. 166 00:10:00,534 --> 00:10:03,246 You've got to be conscious of seeing every star 167 00:10:03,270 --> 00:10:05,648 to see if it shifts. 168 00:10:05,672 --> 00:10:07,439 And that's very demanding. 169 00:10:11,711 --> 00:10:14,357 Narrator: It was a difficult, painstaking task 170 00:10:14,381 --> 00:10:17,026 with a slim chance of success. 171 00:10:17,050 --> 00:10:19,295 Tombaugh used the telescope 172 00:10:19,319 --> 00:10:23,633 to photograph a tiny patch of the sky onto glass plates. 173 00:10:23,657 --> 00:10:26,235 He studied the images on a special machine 174 00:10:26,259 --> 00:10:28,871 in the hope that he would spot the mysterious planet 175 00:10:28,895 --> 00:10:30,640 as it moved. 176 00:10:30,664 --> 00:10:33,142 But after searching for nearly a year, 177 00:10:33,166 --> 00:10:35,011 he had still found nothing. 178 00:10:35,035 --> 00:10:40,817 ♪♪ 179 00:10:40,841 --> 00:10:42,885 Grinspoon: A lot of people told him it was futile 180 00:10:42,909 --> 00:10:44,020 and that they would never find it 181 00:10:44,044 --> 00:10:47,323 and people had already looked, 182 00:10:47,347 --> 00:10:49,481 but he was incredibly fastidious. 183 00:10:51,550 --> 00:10:55,231 Narrator: It wouldn't be long before his relentless work paid off 184 00:10:55,255 --> 00:10:58,390 and changed the solar system as we know it. 185 00:11:00,926 --> 00:11:06,809 ♪♪ 186 00:11:06,833 --> 00:11:09,979 Clyde tombaugh was an amazing person. 187 00:11:10,003 --> 00:11:12,148 Narrator: For decades, there had been a theory 188 00:11:12,172 --> 00:11:16,352 about a hidden planet out beyond Neptune. 189 00:11:16,376 --> 00:11:18,321 Grinspoon: A lot of people told him it was futile 190 00:11:18,345 --> 00:11:19,589 and that they would never find it, 191 00:11:19,613 --> 00:11:21,713 but he was incredibly fastidious. 192 00:11:24,183 --> 00:11:27,263 Narrator: On February 18th, 1930, 193 00:11:27,287 --> 00:11:29,599 he was comparing two photographic plates 194 00:11:29,623 --> 00:11:33,536 taken in late January, six days apart. 195 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:37,095 He noticed a moving object, so he checked it again. 196 00:11:41,100 --> 00:11:44,380 He photographed the patch of sky a third time. 197 00:11:44,404 --> 00:11:46,382 That's when he realized 198 00:11:46,406 --> 00:11:49,641 he had found a ninth planet beyond Neptune. 199 00:11:53,412 --> 00:11:55,447 Grinspoon: And then they announced it to the world. 200 00:12:00,119 --> 00:12:04,300 Well, I think I just had to let the younger men do it now, 201 00:12:04,324 --> 00:12:08,893 but I feel quite satisfied with what I did in my lifetime. 202 00:12:12,665 --> 00:12:15,178 There's lots of interesting things we can do. 203 00:12:15,202 --> 00:12:17,647 Perhaps the most important thing is to look 204 00:12:17,671 --> 00:12:21,951 at what voyager did not do. 205 00:12:21,975 --> 00:12:24,554 It did not visit pluto. 206 00:12:24,578 --> 00:12:26,389 However, there's the political problem 207 00:12:26,413 --> 00:12:31,961 of trying to sell a mission that will have a 14-year cruise, 208 00:12:31,985 --> 00:12:34,864 will not return information for 14 years. 209 00:12:34,888 --> 00:12:39,669 And when it does, it'll be a half-hour flyby 210 00:12:39,693 --> 00:12:42,338 with a handful of pictures. 211 00:12:42,362 --> 00:12:44,841 You're not going to have 11 instruments. 212 00:12:44,865 --> 00:12:47,577 You're not gonna have the data-taking capability 213 00:12:47,601 --> 00:12:48,845 of voyager. 214 00:12:48,869 --> 00:12:52,048 But remember those nine pictures of triton? 215 00:12:52,072 --> 00:12:57,820 ♪♪ 216 00:12:57,844 --> 00:13:02,492 We have to cut back our scientific desires to have more 217 00:13:02,516 --> 00:13:05,561 and just send it out and take those pictures. 218 00:13:05,585 --> 00:13:07,497 Stern: It was really a group of young scientists 219 00:13:07,521 --> 00:13:09,599 who wanted to ask NASA, 220 00:13:09,623 --> 00:13:12,468 "why aren't we going to the last of the planets?" 221 00:13:12,492 --> 00:13:14,871 Bagenal: And so it was a bit of an underground movement 222 00:13:14,895 --> 00:13:19,375 of people who were pushing for this underdog, pluto. 223 00:13:19,399 --> 00:13:22,400 So we called ourselves the pluto underground. 224 00:13:24,804 --> 00:13:28,518 In may of 1989, I went to the top 225 00:13:28,542 --> 00:13:30,453 of the NASA planetary exploration program 226 00:13:30,477 --> 00:13:31,954 to a man named Jeff Briggs. 227 00:13:31,978 --> 00:13:35,892 And just straight out asked him, "how about a study 228 00:13:35,916 --> 00:13:39,362 of how to go explore the last of the planets?" 229 00:13:39,386 --> 00:13:41,063 And to my complete surprise, 230 00:13:41,087 --> 00:13:44,066 he smiled and said, "you know, that's a brilliant idea. 231 00:13:44,090 --> 00:13:46,469 No one has ever asked me that before. 232 00:13:46,493 --> 00:13:48,070 I think we should study it." 233 00:13:48,094 --> 00:13:54,343 ♪♪ 234 00:13:54,367 --> 00:14:00,650 ♪♪ 235 00:14:00,674 --> 00:14:04,020 I met Dave is a graduate student, and he was a professor, 236 00:14:04,044 --> 00:14:06,556 and I needed a project to work on, 237 00:14:06,580 --> 00:14:09,525 and she came to me one day and said, "you know, Dave, 238 00:14:09,549 --> 00:14:11,594 the thing I'm working on is not going that well. 239 00:14:11,618 --> 00:14:13,029 Have you got any ideas?" 240 00:14:13,053 --> 00:14:15,097 And I said, yeah, I've been thinking about searching 241 00:14:15,121 --> 00:14:16,332 "for things beyond saturn." 242 00:14:16,356 --> 00:14:19,569 And she said, "okay, that'll be cool." 243 00:14:19,593 --> 00:14:21,704 Luu: They pointed out that the outer solar system 244 00:14:21,728 --> 00:14:25,208 seemed rather empty compared to the inner solar system. 245 00:14:25,232 --> 00:14:27,310 Jewitt: Inside saturn, inside Jupiter, 246 00:14:27,334 --> 00:14:30,279 we knew of lots of asteroids and comets 247 00:14:30,303 --> 00:14:31,747 and all the planets, 248 00:14:31,771 --> 00:14:33,282 and then beyond saturn, nothing much -- 249 00:14:33,306 --> 00:14:36,519 Just uranus, Neptune, and pluto. 250 00:14:36,543 --> 00:14:38,888 So he proposed that maybe we should look 251 00:14:38,912 --> 00:14:44,026 in the outer solar system to see if there were things out there. 252 00:14:44,050 --> 00:14:48,965 Narrator: Dave and Jane used the mauna kea observatory in Hawaii. 253 00:14:48,989 --> 00:14:51,200 Jewitt: Mauna kea's 14,000 feet high. 254 00:14:51,224 --> 00:14:52,869 It's above most of the clouds. 255 00:14:52,893 --> 00:14:56,239 It's above most of the water vapor in the atmosphere. 256 00:14:56,263 --> 00:14:59,041 It's the second-best place to put a telescope. 257 00:14:59,065 --> 00:15:00,943 First best would be in space. 258 00:15:00,967 --> 00:15:06,315 ♪♪ 259 00:15:06,339 --> 00:15:11,687 ♪♪ 260 00:15:11,711 --> 00:15:14,991 Luu: So many people would say, "when are you going to stop?" 261 00:15:15,015 --> 00:15:16,559 We were looking for things 262 00:15:16,583 --> 00:15:20,062 that were not predicted to exist by any theory. 263 00:15:20,086 --> 00:15:22,431 Jewitt: So we take a series of pictures -- 264 00:15:22,455 --> 00:15:25,268 Four pictures, one after the other, 265 00:15:25,292 --> 00:15:26,802 and the stars and the galaxies, 266 00:15:26,826 --> 00:15:30,172 which are basically infinitely far away, don't move, 267 00:15:30,196 --> 00:15:31,807 but anything in the solar system moves 268 00:15:31,831 --> 00:15:33,175 'cause it's going around the sun, 269 00:15:33,199 --> 00:15:35,311 and the speed depends on its distance. 270 00:15:35,335 --> 00:15:38,915 And we look for anything that is moving slowly 271 00:15:38,939 --> 00:15:41,851 with respect to the stars and the galaxies. 272 00:15:41,875 --> 00:15:47,189 Every time we wanted to stop, the technology would get better. 273 00:15:47,213 --> 00:15:50,192 Jewitt: At the end of August in 1992, 274 00:15:50,216 --> 00:15:53,396 we took the first picture and it came out, 275 00:15:53,420 --> 00:15:55,698 then the second picture came out, 276 00:15:55,722 --> 00:15:58,734 and I pretty much immediately saw this object 277 00:15:58,758 --> 00:16:01,003 that seemed to move and it didn't move much. 278 00:16:01,027 --> 00:16:02,338 Luu: We were very excited 279 00:16:02,362 --> 00:16:05,675 because it was the first believable candidate. 280 00:16:05,699 --> 00:16:07,543 Jewitt: So the third picture came, 281 00:16:07,567 --> 00:16:10,346 and the third picture showed that same object, 282 00:16:10,370 --> 00:16:11,881 but a little bit further over. 283 00:16:11,905 --> 00:16:15,685 [ Camera shutter clicks ] 284 00:16:15,709 --> 00:16:18,454 So the fourth image came out, and it was just perfect. 285 00:16:18,478 --> 00:16:20,756 It was bang, bang, bang, bang, 286 00:16:20,780 --> 00:16:23,192 in a straight line, going to the west, 287 00:16:23,216 --> 00:16:25,528 and during the whole time, we're able to measure it. 288 00:16:25,552 --> 00:16:28,920 And its speed was just a beautiful straight line. 289 00:16:31,023 --> 00:16:32,268 How could that possibly be real? 290 00:16:32,292 --> 00:16:33,636 Like, we've done this so much 291 00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:35,504 and there's just so much rubbish that we get? 292 00:16:35,528 --> 00:16:37,306 How could this possibly be real? 293 00:16:37,330 --> 00:16:39,542 [ Laughs ] Yes. 294 00:16:39,566 --> 00:16:41,944 So we just took picture after picture after picture 295 00:16:41,968 --> 00:16:45,648 after picture for the remaining six hours of the night. 296 00:16:45,672 --> 00:16:52,989 ♪♪ 297 00:16:53,013 --> 00:17:00,262 ♪♪ 298 00:17:00,286 --> 00:17:03,699 Well, this changes our view of the solar system fundamentally, 299 00:17:03,723 --> 00:17:06,969 that there's a whole new, unexplored area out there 300 00:17:06,993 --> 00:17:08,270 of objects. 301 00:17:08,294 --> 00:17:11,173 It was really clear that this was a major breakthrough. 302 00:17:11,197 --> 00:17:14,944 There are 100,000 objects in the kuiper belt 303 00:17:14,968 --> 00:17:17,747 bigger than 60 miles across, 304 00:17:17,771 --> 00:17:20,649 and there's a billion objects in the kuiper belt 305 00:17:20,673 --> 00:17:23,753 bigger than about a mile across. 306 00:17:23,777 --> 00:17:26,222 Grinspoon: Pluto is not just some weird fringe oddball 307 00:17:26,246 --> 00:17:29,325 by itself out on the outer fringes of the solar system, 308 00:17:29,349 --> 00:17:32,762 but in fact was the largest member 309 00:17:32,786 --> 00:17:35,831 of this massive domain of objects. 310 00:17:35,855 --> 00:17:39,435 That clearly is important in the story 311 00:17:39,459 --> 00:17:41,637 of how the solar system came to be. 312 00:17:41,661 --> 00:17:49,661 ♪♪ 313 00:17:50,904 --> 00:17:58,904 ♪♪ 314 00:18:00,213 --> 00:18:02,691 Stern: The competition was really intense, 315 00:18:02,715 --> 00:18:06,195 five teams formed, and frankly, of the five, 316 00:18:06,219 --> 00:18:10,900 our team was the David in a David and Goliath battle. 317 00:18:10,924 --> 00:18:15,638 We had the least experience, but probably the highest motivation. 318 00:18:15,662 --> 00:18:18,407 ...no humans really could glimpse as a real planet. 319 00:18:18,431 --> 00:18:21,510 One of the first things that we had to do 320 00:18:21,534 --> 00:18:23,446 was to find a name for it. 321 00:18:23,470 --> 00:18:25,448 And when I was on a long run 322 00:18:25,472 --> 00:18:27,716 across my hometown, Boulder, Colorado, 323 00:18:27,740 --> 00:18:32,088 and I turned around to the west and saw the rocky mountains. 324 00:18:32,112 --> 00:18:36,681 And I thought, "this is a mission of new horizons." 325 00:18:39,818 --> 00:18:42,965 Bagenal: We designed our mission as best we could -- 326 00:18:42,989 --> 00:18:45,000 Not too much, but not too little. 327 00:18:45,024 --> 00:18:47,937 Just get it right. 328 00:18:47,961 --> 00:18:50,606 These proposals are phone-book thick 329 00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:52,675 engineering and technical documents. 330 00:18:52,699 --> 00:18:53,876 There's a lot of work 331 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:56,045 that goes into putting one of these together. 332 00:18:56,069 --> 00:19:01,450 ♪♪ 333 00:19:01,474 --> 00:19:07,690 On November the 29th, 2001, after 300 days of competition, 334 00:19:07,714 --> 00:19:10,126 I was at a planetary science meeting, 335 00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:13,863 and a NASA scientists came to me and said, 336 00:19:13,887 --> 00:19:15,753 "there's a phone call for you." 337 00:19:18,991 --> 00:19:24,273 And I knew at that moment that that phone call was 338 00:19:24,297 --> 00:19:25,674 the decision. 339 00:19:25,698 --> 00:19:29,311 We would find out if we had won or lost. 340 00:19:29,335 --> 00:19:33,182 And I picked up the phone, and time telescoped. 341 00:19:33,206 --> 00:19:35,151 It slowed down for me incredibly, 342 00:19:35,175 --> 00:19:36,919 and I knew that within moments, 343 00:19:36,943 --> 00:19:40,411 my life would change one way or the other. 344 00:19:46,218 --> 00:19:48,264 Stern: It was really a group of young scientists 345 00:19:48,288 --> 00:19:50,466 who wanted to ask NASA, 346 00:19:50,490 --> 00:19:53,335 "why aren't we going the last of the planets?" 347 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:55,504 Bagenal: And so it was a bit of an underground movement 348 00:19:55,528 --> 00:19:59,664 of people who were pushing for this underdog, pluto. 349 00:20:04,136 --> 00:20:06,615 Stern: On November the 29th, 2001, 350 00:20:06,639 --> 00:20:10,152 after 300 days of competition, 351 00:20:10,176 --> 00:20:13,222 a NASA scientist came to me and said, 352 00:20:13,246 --> 00:20:14,946 "there's a phone call for you." 353 00:20:18,217 --> 00:20:22,932 And I knew at that moment that that phone call was 354 00:20:22,956 --> 00:20:24,667 the decision. 355 00:20:24,691 --> 00:20:28,737 And fortunately, the phone call was a good one, 356 00:20:28,761 --> 00:20:30,628 and we found out we had won. 357 00:20:34,433 --> 00:20:37,012 It was all systems go to build the spacecraft 358 00:20:37,036 --> 00:20:39,114 and to make it happen. 359 00:20:39,138 --> 00:20:42,351 We were actually going to have an opportunity 360 00:20:42,375 --> 00:20:47,957 to do something that had been our ambition for 14 years. 361 00:20:47,981 --> 00:20:49,925 Grinspoon: Then they actually have to build it 362 00:20:49,949 --> 00:20:52,995 and make it succeed, and they're on a ticking clock. 363 00:20:53,019 --> 00:20:54,919 [ Machinery whirs ] 364 00:20:56,822 --> 00:20:59,134 Weaver: All of the challenges associated with building 365 00:20:59,158 --> 00:21:00,402 a spacecraft 366 00:21:00,426 --> 00:21:03,739 that was small enough, used little enough power 367 00:21:03,763 --> 00:21:07,042 that we could perform when the light levels are so low -- 368 00:21:07,066 --> 00:21:09,734 It was just technically very challenging. 369 00:21:11,770 --> 00:21:14,450 Stern: Well, you know, the key to planetary science is 370 00:21:14,474 --> 00:21:17,386 that you really have to go places to get the resolution 371 00:21:17,410 --> 00:21:19,922 to get up close enough to really see what's going on. 372 00:21:19,946 --> 00:21:22,024 We want to get up close and personal. 373 00:21:22,048 --> 00:21:29,798 ♪♪ 374 00:21:29,822 --> 00:21:33,636 Spencer: The new horizon spacecraft is a small spacecraft, 375 00:21:33,660 --> 00:21:35,271 and then we put it on the biggest rocket 376 00:21:35,295 --> 00:21:39,141 that we had available from NASA at the time, the atlas 5. 377 00:21:39,165 --> 00:21:47,165 ♪♪ 378 00:21:47,273 --> 00:21:50,519 Buie: We had a number of days where everything's lining up, 379 00:21:50,543 --> 00:21:52,388 and then somewhere along the way, 380 00:21:52,412 --> 00:21:54,923 somebody said, "no, can't go." 381 00:21:54,947 --> 00:21:57,926 That got to be the pattern. 382 00:21:57,950 --> 00:22:03,332 Man: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... 383 00:22:03,356 --> 00:22:06,368 Buie: I remember, on that one day, the clock's counting down, 384 00:22:06,392 --> 00:22:08,037 and it's getting lower and lower, 385 00:22:08,061 --> 00:22:09,772 and they're not stopping, and I said, "wow, 386 00:22:09,796 --> 00:22:11,473 if they don't stop this, actually, 387 00:22:11,497 --> 00:22:14,209 they're gonna have to send it off." 388 00:22:14,233 --> 00:22:19,214 Man: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 389 00:22:19,238 --> 00:22:21,283 We have ignition. 390 00:22:21,307 --> 00:22:22,451 Woman: Yes! 391 00:22:22,475 --> 00:22:24,153 Whoo! 392 00:22:24,177 --> 00:22:25,976 Whoo! 393 00:22:27,546 --> 00:22:29,091 Buie: And sure enough, 394 00:22:29,115 --> 00:22:32,450 that thing took off like nobody's business. 395 00:22:35,454 --> 00:22:39,101 Weaver: We had a picture perfect launch. 396 00:22:39,125 --> 00:22:41,370 At 11:00 P.M., I was out on the balcony 397 00:22:41,394 --> 00:22:43,928 of the hotel where I was staying at cape canaveral... 398 00:22:46,732 --> 00:22:48,844 ...just looking up and seeing the beautiful, bright moon, 399 00:22:48,868 --> 00:22:51,280 and the spacecraft was passing, you know, 400 00:22:51,304 --> 00:22:53,649 the orbit of the moon at that time already. 401 00:22:53,673 --> 00:22:55,250 I mean, usually, it took the Apollo astronauts 402 00:22:55,274 --> 00:22:56,885 three days to get there. 403 00:22:56,909 --> 00:23:00,522 So we knew we were speeding on to our destination. 404 00:23:00,546 --> 00:23:08,546 ♪♪ 405 00:23:08,654 --> 00:23:16,654 ♪♪ 406 00:23:16,796 --> 00:23:20,042 Flying past Jupiter allowed us to check out our instruments. 407 00:23:20,066 --> 00:23:27,216 ♪♪ 408 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:34,390 ♪♪ 409 00:23:34,414 --> 00:23:41,597 ♪♪ 410 00:23:41,621 --> 00:23:45,033 Buie: New horizons flew by Jupiter and took advantage 411 00:23:45,057 --> 00:23:49,905 of a particular trick called a gravity assist. 412 00:23:49,929 --> 00:23:52,341 So if you imagine -- Jupiter moving along, 413 00:23:52,365 --> 00:23:54,276 and new horizons is catching up to it, 414 00:23:54,300 --> 00:24:00,048 and Jupiter pulls it forward and then bends the orbit, 415 00:24:00,072 --> 00:24:01,817 and as they keep going, 416 00:24:01,841 --> 00:24:05,954 that interchange will add a little bit more velocity 417 00:24:05,978 --> 00:24:10,459 to the speed of new horizons. 418 00:24:10,483 --> 00:24:12,795 Spacecraft is outward bound from Jupiter, 419 00:24:12,819 --> 00:24:14,329 and we're on our way to pluto. 420 00:24:14,353 --> 00:24:16,198 Congratulations. All right. 421 00:24:16,222 --> 00:24:18,967 We shaved a couple of years off the flight time, 422 00:24:18,991 --> 00:24:20,991 but it was still a very long haul. 423 00:24:24,796 --> 00:24:28,076 Grinspoon: It was another eight years from there to pluto, 424 00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:31,747 so they pioneered this technique of hibernation, 425 00:24:31,771 --> 00:24:34,583 where you put the spacecraft to sleep first for a day 426 00:24:34,607 --> 00:24:37,208 and then for a week and then for weeks. 427 00:24:41,146 --> 00:24:44,159 And it's just sending back a beacon, a beep. 428 00:24:44,183 --> 00:24:45,583 [ Beeps ] 429 00:24:49,488 --> 00:24:51,489 [ Beeps ] 430 00:24:54,659 --> 00:25:00,008 There was this issue about what a planet should or shouldn't be 431 00:25:00,032 --> 00:25:02,478 and whether pluto was one. 432 00:25:02,502 --> 00:25:04,880 Luu: Didn't seem right to call pluto a planet 433 00:25:04,904 --> 00:25:08,584 when there were like thousands of other objects like it. 434 00:25:08,608 --> 00:25:12,354 It's a big kuiper belt object, but it's a kuiper belt object. 435 00:25:12,378 --> 00:25:14,022 There's no doubt about that. 436 00:25:14,046 --> 00:25:16,258 And so the astronomers had a vote. 437 00:25:16,282 --> 00:25:17,459 [ Chuckles ] 438 00:25:17,483 --> 00:25:19,561 Which is ludicrous in itself. 439 00:25:19,585 --> 00:25:22,898 They had a vote on whether pluto was a planet. 440 00:25:22,922 --> 00:25:27,035 And the idea of voting in science -- it's just crazy. 441 00:25:27,059 --> 00:25:30,506 Since when do we vote about scientific fact? 442 00:25:30,530 --> 00:25:38,530 ♪♪ 443 00:25:39,071 --> 00:25:42,651 In the scientific community, 444 00:25:42,675 --> 00:25:47,456 most planetary scientists simply ignore it. 445 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,691 Olkin: I was so excited when I had the opportunity 446 00:25:49,715 --> 00:25:51,093 to join this mission. 447 00:25:51,117 --> 00:25:53,128 I had been studying pluto for years, 448 00:25:53,152 --> 00:25:55,063 using ground-based telescopes, 449 00:25:55,087 --> 00:25:57,533 trying to understand what was going on 450 00:25:57,557 --> 00:26:00,435 in this fuzzy point of light. 451 00:26:00,459 --> 00:26:02,938 Narrator: The hubble telescope produced the first image 452 00:26:02,962 --> 00:26:05,007 that illuminated pluto. 453 00:26:05,031 --> 00:26:07,910 This image was made up of just eight pixels, 454 00:26:07,934 --> 00:26:13,315 one pixel per 151 square miles of pluto's surface. 455 00:26:13,339 --> 00:26:16,351 And to be able to have a part in the new horizons mission, 456 00:26:16,375 --> 00:26:19,021 where we got to turn pluto from a point of light 457 00:26:19,045 --> 00:26:24,393 into a world where we're mapping the surface, is amazing 458 00:26:24,417 --> 00:26:26,395 buie: Because it's a flyby mission. 459 00:26:26,419 --> 00:26:29,898 We knew we were gonna get a really good shot 460 00:26:29,922 --> 00:26:32,501 at one half of pluto. 461 00:26:32,525 --> 00:26:36,594 The other half -- we would see it, but it would be blurry. 462 00:26:38,797 --> 00:26:42,210 One of the projects was to take images 463 00:26:42,234 --> 00:26:45,247 with the hubble space telescope, 464 00:26:45,271 --> 00:26:49,451 and figured out a map, 465 00:26:49,475 --> 00:26:52,621 but pluto is so far away and so tiny 466 00:26:52,645 --> 00:26:53,922 that, even with hubble, 467 00:26:53,946 --> 00:26:58,627 it's very, very difficult to get any information. 468 00:26:58,651 --> 00:27:03,498 It took about six or seven years worth of computer processing 469 00:27:03,522 --> 00:27:05,222 to get the maps out. 470 00:27:07,993 --> 00:27:12,140 I think this map is probably the best map 471 00:27:12,164 --> 00:27:16,044 we're gonna get prior to the spacecraft getting there. 472 00:27:16,068 --> 00:27:18,914 I said, "here's the deal." 473 00:27:18,938 --> 00:27:22,384 I can tell you right now where you need to go. 474 00:27:22,408 --> 00:27:25,654 There's one patch of pluto that's the brightest part 475 00:27:25,678 --> 00:27:26,888 of the body. 476 00:27:26,912 --> 00:27:28,190 Right next to it 477 00:27:28,214 --> 00:27:32,227 is one of the darkest areas on the entire surface. 478 00:27:32,251 --> 00:27:34,997 You're gonna see the darkest stuff, 479 00:27:35,021 --> 00:27:36,398 you're gonna see the brightest stuff, 480 00:27:36,422 --> 00:27:38,967 and you're gonna see the contact in between, 481 00:27:38,991 --> 00:27:42,793 and then all the northern polar areas. 482 00:27:46,564 --> 00:27:49,044 Narrator: On the fourth of July, 2015, 483 00:27:49,068 --> 00:27:50,846 new horizons had been journeying 484 00:27:50,870 --> 00:27:54,204 towards its target of pluto for over nine years. 485 00:27:57,308 --> 00:28:00,255 As the rest of the country celebrates the holiday 486 00:28:00,279 --> 00:28:02,758 and with only 10 days to go, 487 00:28:02,782 --> 00:28:05,527 Alice bowman, the mission operations manager, 488 00:28:05,551 --> 00:28:08,096 was preparing to upload the main flyby sequence 489 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:11,055 that would direct new horizons towards pluto. 490 00:28:14,526 --> 00:28:17,439 There are a number of gates that we go through 491 00:28:17,463 --> 00:28:20,142 when we establish communications with the spacecraft. 492 00:28:20,166 --> 00:28:22,310 You know, you see the first gate locked, 493 00:28:22,334 --> 00:28:24,880 the second gate locked, the third gate locked, 494 00:28:24,904 --> 00:28:28,483 and that's when you get your telemetry. 495 00:28:28,507 --> 00:28:34,456 Narrator: But at 1:54 in the afternoon, their worst fears come true. 496 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,759 We went out of lock, the next one went out of lock, 497 00:28:37,783 --> 00:28:41,697 and then we lost the last one out of lock. 498 00:28:41,721 --> 00:28:43,832 Stern: I got a phone call from our project manager, 499 00:28:43,856 --> 00:28:49,271 saying something I almost couldn't process the words for. 500 00:28:49,295 --> 00:28:52,563 He said to me, "Alan, we've lost contact with the spacecraft." 501 00:28:58,837 --> 00:29:01,383 Narrator: On the fourth of July, 2015, 502 00:29:01,407 --> 00:29:03,719 new horizons had spent nine years 503 00:29:03,743 --> 00:29:06,521 journeying towards pluto. 504 00:29:06,545 --> 00:29:10,759 It was just 10 days away from reaching its target. 505 00:29:10,783 --> 00:29:12,828 Stern: I got a phone call from our project manager, 506 00:29:12,852 --> 00:29:17,699 saying, "Alan, we've lost contact with the spacecraft." 507 00:29:17,723 --> 00:29:20,135 I had people that were very upset 508 00:29:20,159 --> 00:29:22,838 that I needed to calm down and have them focus, 509 00:29:22,862 --> 00:29:25,307 'cause I needed their expertise. 510 00:29:25,331 --> 00:29:27,442 Narrator: Just over an hour later, 511 00:29:27,466 --> 00:29:30,612 at 11 minutes past 3:00 in the afternoon, 512 00:29:30,636 --> 00:29:35,083 the team reestablished communication with new horizons. 513 00:29:35,107 --> 00:29:37,519 But the problems were far from over. 514 00:29:37,543 --> 00:29:41,145 The spacecraft reports on its status, and it was bad news. 515 00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:46,862 The spacecraft had overloaded a computer memory 516 00:29:46,886 --> 00:29:50,799 and rebooted itself while this uplink was happening, 517 00:29:50,823 --> 00:29:53,401 of core commands for the encounter sequence, 518 00:29:53,425 --> 00:29:57,739 and all of that software was lost. 519 00:29:57,763 --> 00:30:01,109 Narrator: The team had just three days to rewrite the flyby sequence 520 00:30:01,133 --> 00:30:04,312 and upload it to the spacecraft. 521 00:30:04,336 --> 00:30:07,404 Otherwise, new horizons would miss pluto. 522 00:30:10,308 --> 00:30:14,856 We knew that if we could not fix this problem, 523 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:19,194 that everything we had invested in the previous 26 years -- 524 00:30:19,218 --> 00:30:23,420 All of that was for nothing unless we could fix the problem. 525 00:30:25,456 --> 00:30:28,904 So it was necessary to reboot the computer 526 00:30:28,928 --> 00:30:31,573 and then start rewriting some of that software 527 00:30:31,597 --> 00:30:38,446 and finding the right files and reloading those core sequences, 528 00:30:38,470 --> 00:30:40,470 narrator: But that process took time. 529 00:30:43,474 --> 00:30:46,944 It takes nine hours just to say, "hey, are you okay?" 530 00:30:49,747 --> 00:30:51,726 You know, nine hours later, the spacecraft goes, 531 00:30:51,750 --> 00:30:54,362 "yeah, I'm here. What should I do?" 532 00:30:54,386 --> 00:30:58,200 We all felt that sense of a ticking clock. 533 00:30:58,224 --> 00:30:59,835 Grinspoon: People were sleeping on desks. 534 00:30:59,859 --> 00:31:01,859 People were sleeping on the floor. 535 00:31:05,330 --> 00:31:07,275 Bowman: This is our mission. 536 00:31:07,299 --> 00:31:10,278 We have flown nine and a half years, 537 00:31:10,302 --> 00:31:13,415 and none of us were going to give up -- 538 00:31:13,439 --> 00:31:16,818 None of us. 539 00:31:16,842 --> 00:31:18,854 Narrator: After three grueling days, 540 00:31:18,878 --> 00:31:22,357 the team waited for new horizons to respond 541 00:31:22,381 --> 00:31:26,728 and find out if they had saved the mission. 542 00:31:26,752 --> 00:31:31,221 [ Speaking indistinctly ] 543 00:31:33,124 --> 00:31:34,291 Here we go. 544 00:31:37,028 --> 00:31:39,674 Bowman: We saw that the spacecraft had transitioned 545 00:31:39,698 --> 00:31:42,744 into that mode to accomplish the flyby, 546 00:31:42,768 --> 00:31:44,701 and it was pretty amazing. 547 00:31:46,771 --> 00:31:49,050 Narrator: With the flyby sequence initiated, 548 00:31:49,074 --> 00:31:51,686 new horizons turned toward pluto. 549 00:31:51,710 --> 00:31:59,160 ♪♪ 550 00:31:59,184 --> 00:32:02,197 Bowman: When people ask me what my favorite picture is 551 00:32:02,221 --> 00:32:03,932 of the pluto system -- 552 00:32:03,956 --> 00:32:05,901 It's that blurry picture, 553 00:32:05,925 --> 00:32:09,237 the first one that comes down on July 7th. 554 00:32:09,261 --> 00:32:12,474 That's a representation of what we had accomplished 555 00:32:12,498 --> 00:32:16,845 and what we were going to accomplish. 556 00:32:16,869 --> 00:32:18,146 It's one of those moments 557 00:32:18,170 --> 00:32:21,182 that you will never forget in your whole life. 558 00:32:21,206 --> 00:32:24,241 [ Dance music plays, indistinct conversations ] 559 00:32:26,844 --> 00:32:29,658 That I had been working my entire career 560 00:32:29,682 --> 00:32:32,227 leading up to this moment of time. 561 00:32:32,251 --> 00:32:40,251 All: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! 562 00:32:40,492 --> 00:32:43,571 [ Cheers and applause ] 563 00:32:43,595 --> 00:32:47,943 Narrator: On July 14th, 2015, new horizons signal to earth 564 00:32:47,967 --> 00:32:51,179 that it had successfully flown by pluto, 565 00:32:51,203 --> 00:32:53,348 but the team had to wait nine more hours 566 00:32:53,372 --> 00:32:56,551 due to the vast distance between earth and pluto 567 00:32:56,575 --> 00:32:58,887 to find out if they had achieved their goal 568 00:32:58,911 --> 00:33:01,923 of photographing this far-off world. 569 00:33:01,947 --> 00:33:09,947 ♪♪ 570 00:33:10,189 --> 00:33:18,189 ♪♪ 571 00:33:18,430 --> 00:33:19,908 Bagenal: So there we were 572 00:33:19,932 --> 00:33:23,411 at Johns Hopkins applied physics lab 573 00:33:23,435 --> 00:33:26,748 with all the press and the family and friends 574 00:33:26,772 --> 00:33:29,851 and a whole bunch of people who were just dying to know 575 00:33:29,875 --> 00:33:31,586 what pluto's like. 576 00:33:31,610 --> 00:33:33,588 Weaver: When we finally get that image down 577 00:33:33,612 --> 00:33:37,092 and we displayed it on the monitor, 578 00:33:37,116 --> 00:33:38,782 it was unbelievable. 579 00:33:40,418 --> 00:33:46,234 ♪♪ 580 00:33:46,258 --> 00:33:48,303 Bagenal: So there we were 581 00:33:48,327 --> 00:33:51,806 at Johns Hopkins applied physics lab 582 00:33:51,830 --> 00:33:55,210 and with all the press and the family and friends 583 00:33:55,234 --> 00:33:58,113 and a whole bunch of people who were just dying to know 584 00:33:58,137 --> 00:34:00,015 what pluto's like. 585 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,050 Weaver: When we finally get that image down 586 00:34:02,074 --> 00:34:06,087 and we displayed on the monitor... 587 00:34:06,111 --> 00:34:07,789 It was unbelievable. 588 00:34:07,813 --> 00:34:15,813 ♪♪ 589 00:34:16,989 --> 00:34:20,502 [ Cheers and applause ] 590 00:34:20,526 --> 00:34:26,207 ♪♪ 591 00:34:26,231 --> 00:34:29,511 The whole team is like... 592 00:34:29,535 --> 00:34:32,480 Aghast at this beautiful image. 593 00:34:32,504 --> 00:34:40,504 ♪♪ 594 00:34:40,646 --> 00:34:42,991 It was just extraordinary. 595 00:34:43,015 --> 00:34:46,249 This was a whole new world. 596 00:34:49,887 --> 00:34:53,757 Narrator: Just as voyager had revealed at Neptune's moon triton... 597 00:34:55,893 --> 00:34:58,173 New horizons images showed a world 598 00:34:58,197 --> 00:35:00,497 that was geologically active. 599 00:35:03,968 --> 00:35:06,681 Stern: Mountains and ravines and glaciers 600 00:35:06,705 --> 00:35:10,251 and all sorts of indications of activity 601 00:35:10,275 --> 00:35:13,788 and physics taking place on the surface. 602 00:35:13,812 --> 00:35:15,356 It just blew us away. 603 00:35:15,380 --> 00:35:21,996 ♪♪ 604 00:35:22,020 --> 00:35:28,703 ♪♪ 605 00:35:28,727 --> 00:35:30,839 Bagenal: Pluto has mountains. 606 00:35:30,863 --> 00:35:32,507 But these aren't ordinary mountains. 607 00:35:32,531 --> 00:35:35,777 These are mountains of ice -- Water ice -- 608 00:35:35,801 --> 00:35:38,847 That are sticking up the size of the rockies -- 609 00:35:38,871 --> 00:35:41,916 Huge, big mountains. 610 00:35:41,940 --> 00:35:44,786 Grinspoon: And pluto, as Alan is always saying, 611 00:35:44,810 --> 00:35:46,955 is the Everest of the solar system -- 612 00:35:46,979 --> 00:35:50,692 The farthest and coldest and hardest to reach. 613 00:35:50,716 --> 00:35:55,763 And so these mountain ranges were named norgay and Hillary, 614 00:35:55,787 --> 00:35:58,733 after the original explorers of Everest. 615 00:35:58,757 --> 00:36:00,268 Many of the features on pluto 616 00:36:00,292 --> 00:36:01,903 were named after famous explorers 617 00:36:01,927 --> 00:36:04,272 and famous vessels of exploration. 618 00:36:04,296 --> 00:36:09,511 ♪♪ 619 00:36:09,535 --> 00:36:14,816 ♪♪ 620 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:18,286 As we were flying up to pluto and imaging it 621 00:36:18,310 --> 00:36:20,955 day after day and week after week on approach, 622 00:36:20,979 --> 00:36:25,026 we could see this bright feature on the surface. 623 00:36:25,050 --> 00:36:30,598 ♪♪ 624 00:36:30,622 --> 00:36:33,168 One morning, we got an image back, 625 00:36:33,192 --> 00:36:35,603 and as soon as it came up on the big screen, 626 00:36:35,627 --> 00:36:40,141 I remember a NASA official who said, "do you see that? 627 00:36:40,165 --> 00:36:41,798 Looks like a heart." 628 00:36:44,001 --> 00:36:46,648 And as we got closer and closer, amazingly, 629 00:36:46,672 --> 00:36:51,419 it looked more and more like a heart. 630 00:36:51,443 --> 00:36:55,256 I think that's what emblazoned pluto into the public mind 631 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,561 as this amazing place at the frontier of our solar system. 632 00:36:59,585 --> 00:37:03,898 Narrator: Pluto's heart extends approximately 1,000 miles across 633 00:37:03,922 --> 00:37:07,135 and is composed of nitrogen ice. 634 00:37:07,159 --> 00:37:11,739 We believe that structure might be supported by water 635 00:37:11,763 --> 00:37:13,330 underneath the surface. 636 00:37:15,933 --> 00:37:19,869 There could be an ocean underneath pluto's surface. 637 00:37:22,206 --> 00:37:24,986 Buie: It's is one of those things where, if you find water, 638 00:37:25,010 --> 00:37:26,521 is there a chance for life? 639 00:37:26,545 --> 00:37:27,889 Wouldn't that be cool, 640 00:37:27,913 --> 00:37:30,925 if pluto's actually one of those places in the solar system 641 00:37:30,949 --> 00:37:33,628 that has or had life on it, 642 00:37:33,652 --> 00:37:37,131 even out at the outer reaches of the solar system? 643 00:37:37,155 --> 00:37:39,601 That's just mind blowing right there. 644 00:37:39,625 --> 00:37:43,605 Narrator: Yet new horizons would make even more unexpected discoveries 645 00:37:43,629 --> 00:37:46,997 as it journeyed further out into the solar system. 646 00:37:50,268 --> 00:37:55,383 ♪♪ 647 00:37:55,407 --> 00:37:57,252 Bagenal: When we flew behind 648 00:37:57,276 --> 00:38:00,810 and we looked at the sun go behind pluto... 649 00:38:05,082 --> 00:38:08,162 ...we saw this big ring of blue sky -- 650 00:38:08,186 --> 00:38:11,132 A haze in the upper atmosphere. 651 00:38:11,156 --> 00:38:17,038 ♪♪ 652 00:38:17,062 --> 00:38:20,608 Narrator: New horizons continued farther into the kuiper belt. 653 00:38:20,632 --> 00:38:26,748 ♪♪ 654 00:38:26,772 --> 00:38:28,516 And three and a half years later, 655 00:38:28,540 --> 00:38:31,085 on new year's day, 2019, 656 00:38:31,109 --> 00:38:33,554 it reached a small kuiper belt object 657 00:38:33,578 --> 00:38:35,723 officially named arrokoth. 658 00:38:35,747 --> 00:38:41,362 ♪♪ 659 00:38:41,386 --> 00:38:43,398 Stern: With the spacecraft now a billion miles 660 00:38:43,422 --> 00:38:44,632 farther out than pluto, 661 00:38:44,656 --> 00:38:49,570 here was this fantastically complex object. 662 00:38:49,594 --> 00:38:53,508 It's in a very special category of objects 663 00:38:53,532 --> 00:38:55,943 out in the kuiper belt beyond Neptune. 664 00:38:55,967 --> 00:38:58,913 These are objects we call the cold classical objects. 665 00:38:58,937 --> 00:39:02,116 These are objects that are in very flat circular orbits 666 00:39:02,140 --> 00:39:05,486 that are all traveling around the sun 667 00:39:05,510 --> 00:39:07,422 pretty much parallel to each other. 668 00:39:07,446 --> 00:39:09,924 They very rarely run into each other. 669 00:39:09,948 --> 00:39:12,393 And they clearly have been in these orbits 670 00:39:12,417 --> 00:39:14,762 since the formation of the solar system. 671 00:39:14,786 --> 00:39:19,801 That's the only way they can have such undisturbed orbits. 672 00:39:19,825 --> 00:39:22,570 Olkin: These are the building blocks of solar system formation, 673 00:39:22,594 --> 00:39:24,906 they're the things that didn't get accreted 674 00:39:24,930 --> 00:39:27,408 into the giant planets in the terrestrial planet. 675 00:39:27,432 --> 00:39:29,711 So they're the leftovers out in the deep freeze 676 00:39:29,735 --> 00:39:31,201 of our solar system. 677 00:39:35,806 --> 00:39:39,554 Narrator: These images reveal that arrokoth is made of two objects 678 00:39:39,578 --> 00:39:41,244 that are joined together. 679 00:39:44,782 --> 00:39:47,195 Buie: This can't be done 680 00:39:47,219 --> 00:39:52,467 without a very, very, very slow merging of the two objects. 681 00:39:52,491 --> 00:39:58,072 ♪♪ 682 00:39:58,096 --> 00:40:00,875 Realizing, "boy, this is how you make planets." 683 00:40:00,899 --> 00:40:03,845 You have to take small objects and bring them together gently 684 00:40:03,869 --> 00:40:05,246 so they will stick 685 00:40:05,270 --> 00:40:08,216 and won't just smash each other to pieces, 686 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:10,718 and so you can build up things into larger objects 687 00:40:10,742 --> 00:40:13,488 "and eventually end up with things the size of the earth." 688 00:40:13,512 --> 00:40:16,691 And here we were, seeing that process 689 00:40:16,715 --> 00:40:19,560 for the first time in a real object 690 00:40:19,584 --> 00:40:24,132 that had been frozen in the early stages of that process. 691 00:40:24,156 --> 00:40:28,002 Super exciting to be able to take science by leaps and bounds 692 00:40:28,026 --> 00:40:30,738 just from a short period of time 693 00:40:30,762 --> 00:40:32,340 where we're getting data. 694 00:40:32,364 --> 00:40:39,947 ♪♪ 695 00:40:39,971 --> 00:40:43,751 Just goes to show that this kind of exploration 696 00:40:43,775 --> 00:40:45,420 can really bring people together 697 00:40:45,444 --> 00:40:49,090 no matter where you are in the world. 698 00:40:49,114 --> 00:40:50,258 [ Cheers and applause ] 699 00:40:50,282 --> 00:40:53,594 Do what you're passionate about. 700 00:40:53,618 --> 00:40:56,664 Don't do something because it's easy. 701 00:40:56,688 --> 00:41:01,169 We've opened up a new realm of the solar system, 702 00:41:01,193 --> 00:41:03,404 a new realm of human discovery. 703 00:41:03,428 --> 00:41:05,406 A half-century-long endeavor 704 00:41:05,430 --> 00:41:09,710 that will forever be a legacy of our time. 705 00:41:09,734 --> 00:41:13,815 We changed the world a little bit for the better, 706 00:41:13,839 --> 00:41:16,217 and we made a little something called "history." 707 00:41:16,241 --> 00:41:23,157 ♪♪ 708 00:41:23,181 --> 00:41:26,160 There is no end to the discoveries 709 00:41:26,184 --> 00:41:30,731 that we can make out here in the solar system. 710 00:41:30,755 --> 00:41:32,633 We are just getting started. 711 00:41:32,657 --> 00:41:37,171 ♪♪ 712 00:41:37,195 --> 00:41:39,229 [ Cheers and applause ] 713 00:41:41,432 --> 00:41:45,012 When you have a dream -- Something in your heart -- 714 00:41:45,036 --> 00:41:47,348 You should follow your heart. 715 00:41:47,372 --> 00:41:48,950 I never grew up 716 00:41:48,974 --> 00:41:52,153 thinking that I would be a part of something like that. 717 00:41:52,177 --> 00:41:57,425 But now, looking back, I realize everyday people make history. 718 00:41:57,449 --> 00:42:04,687 ♪♪