1
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(wheel squeaks)

2
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(rocket whines)

3
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,829
(dramatic music)

4
00:00:25,350 --> 00:00:26,453
All stations on the Marinette,

5
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this is flight director.

6
00:00:27,710 --> 00:00:30,327
The ATC25 command has been sent.

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My job was chief engineer for Mariner 4.

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We're sending a spacecraft from Earth to Mars

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on a journey that's gonna last nine months.

10
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Half the distance to the sun, almost.

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You're plowing new ground.

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All stations stand by for

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status reports and--

14
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The launch was a little bit scary

15
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because maybe half the launches blew up on the pad,

16
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and there was a lot of other failures.

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They have affirmed.

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00:00:59,910 --> 00:01:00,980
Spacecraft--

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The reason people come down to watch a launch

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is they're hoping to see an explosion.

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That's usually the period of time

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where things, if they're gonna go wrong, do go wrong.

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Six, five, four, three.

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(rocket engine rumbles)

25
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Two, one, zero.

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This thing could fail.

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Ignition.

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(rocket engine rumbles)

29
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(dramatic music)

30
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Lift off, roger, 0.3 seconds.

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We're on our way, roger.

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(dramatic music)

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I think for Mariner 4,

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there's a great sense of hope.

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(dramatic music)

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Mars has a sense of romance about it because it's a place.

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It's a planet; it's another world.

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All stations, this is Ace 1.

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It's as close as we can see in the solar system

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to something being Earth-like.

41
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We'd like to report the spacecraft is sun acquired.

42
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You're doing something for the first time.

43
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The prospects and possibilities are really enticing.

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Are we alone?

45
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What story does Mars have for Earth?

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It's the stuff of dreams.

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(dramatic music)

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I think Mars has held the fascination of the public

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because we've had these visions,

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thanks to science and science fiction,

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that it was this place where there

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was a thriving alien civilization.

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(dramatic music)

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Percival Lowell wrote several books on Mars

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and its past civilizations.

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He talked of canals being built to transport water.

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Aliens and Mars have been hooked together

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ever since those early days.

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I remember hearing when I was in grade school

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that there might even be intelligent life up there.

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Might even be more intelligent than on Earth.

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It was a just a total, total unknown.

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People didn't know.

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Welcome, Number One.

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(dramatic music)

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(title rumbles)

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This is Mariner Control Center at JPL.

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Mariner is 134.217 million miles from Earth,

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and 50,142 miles from Mars.

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So it's July of 1965,

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and we're about to have this encounter with Mars.

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2815.

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We received a signal that means

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the spacecraft had detected the planet.

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0.74 degrees from where we wanna be.

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Yeah, I noticed that.

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We'd all gathered together.

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Lot of people had their fingers crossed.

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Other people are smoking cigarettes.

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About 12 minutes from now,

81
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we should be able to determine that the recorder is running.

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Although we will not be able to determine definitely

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whether pictures are actually being recorded on the tape

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until they are played back.

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(dramatic music)

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The flyby itself takes a matter of hours.

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(gentle music)

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The spacecraft automatically took

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a set of about 22 pictures.

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(dramatic music)

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Picture will cover an area of approximately

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176 miles square on the sunlit rim of the planet.

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(dramatic music)

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There's some cheering,

95
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but mainly it's just relief that yeah, we did it.

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(dramatic music)

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What are we gonna do when we see H-E-L-P

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stamped out in the snow?

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(man laughs)

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The scientific instruments

101
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are sending back data, and that's of interest,

102
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but of course what we're waiting for are the pictures.

103
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(dramatic music)

104
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The pictures were everything.

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But--

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The picture-taking sequence

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was not precisely as predicted.

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There were some anomalies in the telemetry.

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The last I heard, there was some funny business

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in the first 10 picture recordings.

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There were extra stop record signals.

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So there was speculation that the tape recorder

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had started and then stopped early.

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The mission operators and our bosses,

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they thought the worst.

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The TV system, which should have turned

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the tape recorder on and off, may have failed.

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(dramatic music)

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The next morning, we were wanting to handle the issue

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of proving to the bosses that the tape recorder was working.

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There was a artist's shop on the way to work.

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So they bought these crayons called pastels,

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then took them back up to JPL.

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(machine whines)

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This data's coming back out of a teletype machine.

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It's going tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk.

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And then you had to take scissors and cut them up

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into strips and then mount those up on a board on the wall.

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The numbers represented the intensity

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of light at one pixel.

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Each one of those numbers, he assigned a color.

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And in that way, you assemble a paint-by-number picture.

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(dramatic music)

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The picture was about 40,000 numbers.

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The word spread.

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Other people started joining in,

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cutting tape, and coloring.

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(dramatic music)

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And it took eight hours to finish the picture.

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When we saw the final image,

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we had accidentally created a piece of art.

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(dramatic music)

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And then, a TV crew arrived and broadcast the picture.

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And it represented the first image of Mars taken

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from any place but the surface of the Earth.

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And it was really a stunning thing to see.

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The colors were vivid.

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It was very saturated and beautiful.

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(dramatic music)

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It was really striking.

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So when you finally saw the real photographs--

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Face down, right?

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Yeah, face down.

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(dramatic music)

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It was this horrid-looking, gray, dead world.

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(dramatic music)

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When the Mariner's pictures came back,

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all it showed was craters just like the moon.

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It was kind of a big disappointment.

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(dramatic music)

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It didn't show any indications of canals

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and past civilizations.

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It was a letdown.

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(dramatic music)

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For the public, who had grown up with this idea

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of Mars as a place that could be thought of

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as another Earth, that whole Martian empire

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was just smashed to red dust in an instant.

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This planet died.

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Mars died.

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(dramatic music)

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Mariner 6 and 7 come along.

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(dramatic music)

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Mariner 6 sent back 75 images.

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Mariner 7 sent back 125.

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They're still very limited.

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It's just a flyby, right?

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(rocket engine rumbles)

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So Mariner 9 comes along in 1971.

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Public interest is starting to wane.

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There's a certain ennui about

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we've been there, we've done that.

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What's the big deal?

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(rocket engine rumbles)

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Unfortunately, as we approached the planet,

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we realize that there's this huge dust storm

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that was pretty well masking everything on the surface.

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(dramatic music)

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Mariner 9 was reprogrammed by NASA to hold back.

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(dramatic music)

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We had no idea how long the storm was going to last,

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and this is critical because we were using up resources

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on the spacecraft and we're getting a little concerned.

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(dramatic music)

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The dust storm lasted about three months.

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Fortunately, the planet started to clear.

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(dramatic music)

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And it revealed all these incredible geologic features.

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(dramatic music)

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It was a geologic wonderland.

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(dramatic music)

202
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There are channels.

203
00:12:16,723 --> 00:12:19,473
(dramatic music)

204
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There are canyons.

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(dramatic music)

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There's this huge canyon that was

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as long as the United States is wide.

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(dramatic music)

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There were things that really shook our foundation.

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(dramatic music)

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And Olympus Mons is that object.

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(dramatic music)

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If you stuck in on the United States,

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you would cover the state of Missouri.

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00:12:53,485 --> 00:12:55,260
(dramatic music)

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The top is almost poking out of the atmosphere of Mars.

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Mars is just an incredibly different planet

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from what we had expected.

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(dramatic music)

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You could see waning channels and teardrop-shaped ions.

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Everything you could tell had been molded by some flow.

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The only reasonable expectation was that

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these were eroded by large water floods.

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(dramatic music)

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You see deltas, like the end of the Nile delta

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that flowed into a low area which must have been

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the ancient ocean of Mars.

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Of course, I mean it was beyond anybody's expectation,

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even the canal builders (laughs).

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Mars was a blue planet in its past.

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The question now is was that enough to start life?

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We need to go to Mars with a life mission.

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(dramatic music)

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The next mission to Mars was gonna be the Viking mission.

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Now, this was the most ambitious mission

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that had ever been launched to Mars.

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It had not one, but two orbiters.

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More than that, for the first time ever,

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NASA was gonna attempt to land a craft on Mars.

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These were two separate landers,

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each of which had high-tech

242
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stereo cameras, a robotic arm.

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Perhaps most importantly though,

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they had the science experiments that

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they hoped would detect life.

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Nothing like this had been tried before.

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(dramatic music)

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People had to invent everything:

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heat shields, parachutes, throttable engines to land.

250
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We had to invent it all as we went.

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(dramatic music)

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T minus 10, nine, eight, seven.

253
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This is like the first cathedral,

254
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the first Renaissance voyage over the oceans.

255
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Two, one.

256
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But it's to another planet.

257
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(rocket engine roars)

258
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Ignition.

259
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That's big stuff.

260
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Liftoff, liftoff 39.

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This was the culmination of years and years of work,

262
00:15:15,570 --> 00:15:20,570
so it was a lot of this as we watched it go up,

263
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but it went up just beautifully.

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(dramatic music)

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Well, between the launch and arrival at Mars

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was about nine months.

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(dramatic music)

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We had no idea what to expect,

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even some very basic things

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like what was the footing like (laughs).

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Were we gonna sink into a meter of dust?

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Good roll, attitude roll.

273
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,361
Give me post quarter back, firmware fired.

274
00:15:59,361 --> 00:16:00,610
There's no question whatsoever

275
00:16:00,610 --> 00:16:02,630
that landing on Mars was one of the most

276
00:16:02,630 --> 00:16:04,290
difficult technological jobs

277
00:16:04,290 --> 00:16:06,392
that the human species has ever tried.

278
00:16:06,392 --> 00:16:09,070
ACS confirms coordinate transformation change.

279
00:16:09,070 --> 00:16:10,682
We released the lander.

280
00:16:10,682 --> 00:16:12,027
You have flight.

281
00:16:12,027 --> 00:16:13,258
We have jet minus 105.1.

282
00:16:13,258 --> 00:16:14,517
Three is in sync.

283
00:16:14,517 --> 00:16:18,990
And at that point, it is going thousands of miles an hour

284
00:16:18,990 --> 00:16:21,529
as it hits the Martian atmosphere.

285
00:16:21,529 --> 00:16:22,930
59,000 feet coming up on--

286
00:16:22,930 --> 00:16:25,570
So the air shell slows you down,

287
00:16:25,570 --> 00:16:28,520
you're still going faster than the speed of sound.

288
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:30,836
Burn, lander confirmed, parachute deployed.

289
00:16:30,836 --> 00:16:32,670
We have one, we have two.

290
00:16:32,670 --> 00:16:35,208
Then the supersonic parachute is deployed.

291
00:16:35,208 --> 00:16:36,860
Link deployed.

292
00:16:36,860 --> 00:16:40,349
At one mile in altitude, the parachute was jettisoned.

293
00:16:40,349 --> 00:16:41,920
The parachute separation okay.

294
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:44,670
So then we have to fire the engines

295
00:16:44,670 --> 00:16:46,514
all the way to the ground.

296
00:16:46,514 --> 00:16:48,550
43, 46 RTV 188 feet per second.

297
00:16:48,550 --> 00:16:51,258
We were holding our breath each and every moment.

298
00:16:51,258 --> 00:16:53,499
(dramatic music)

299
00:16:53,499 --> 00:16:54,957
It had never been done before.

300
00:16:54,957 --> 00:16:56,817
Feet per second.
Come on.

301
00:16:56,817 --> 00:16:58,603
ACS is close to vertical.

302
00:16:58,603 --> 00:17:00,027
Feet first time.

303
00:17:00,027 --> 00:17:01,600
ACS is green, 1.5 feet per second max.

304
00:17:02,942 --> 00:17:05,692
(dramatic music)

305
00:17:15,850 --> 00:17:16,793
Touchdown, we have.

306
00:17:16,793 --> 00:17:18,885
(men cheer)

307
00:17:18,885 --> 00:17:20,802
Fantastic, 16 kilobits.

308
00:17:22,314 --> 00:17:24,014
(men cheer)

309
00:17:24,014 --> 00:17:26,762
Hold it, hold it.

310
00:17:26,762 --> 00:17:30,003
Yes, we have a touchdown time of 12 hours,

311
00:17:30,003 --> 00:17:32,836
12 minutes, 07 decimal one second.

312
00:17:35,810 --> 00:17:38,290
What we knew when it landed on the surface

313
00:17:38,290 --> 00:17:42,010
was only that a signal was being transmitted.

314
00:17:42,010 --> 00:17:43,313
We knew nothing else.

315
00:17:44,230 --> 00:17:46,043
We had to wait 40 minutes.

316
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:51,260
Waiting for the data to start coming up.

317
00:17:51,260 --> 00:17:55,363
The landing camera, it basically scanned like this.

318
00:17:57,250 --> 00:17:59,870
There's a rare piece of information coming in.

319
00:17:59,870 --> 00:18:03,440
Strips of the picture became available,

320
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,373
little by little by little.

321
00:18:07,230 --> 00:18:09,469
All right, a few rocks.

322
00:18:09,469 --> 00:18:11,800
Oh, that's beautiful.

323
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:13,534
May not look like much, but it's lovely.

324
00:18:13,534 --> 00:18:14,367
(man laughs)

325
00:18:14,367 --> 00:18:15,710
Started seeing some dirt,

326
00:18:15,710 --> 00:18:17,410
then we started seeing some rocks.

327
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,960
Then we started seeing more rocks.

328
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:22,793
It's just incredible

329
00:18:22,793 --> 00:18:25,470
to see that Mars is really there.

330
00:18:25,470 --> 00:18:27,513
Then we started seeing the footpad.

331
00:18:29,779 --> 00:18:31,897
(group applauds)

332
00:18:31,897 --> 00:18:34,647
(dramatic music)

333
00:18:40,590 --> 00:18:45,590
Seeing that first picture back was just thrilling.

334
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:47,293
It was revolutionary.

335
00:18:49,638 --> 00:18:51,971
(cork pops)

336
00:18:53,530 --> 00:18:56,958
I felt this was a more thrilling moment than Apollo 11.

337
00:18:56,958 --> 00:18:59,708
(dramatic music)

338
00:19:01,170 --> 00:19:04,070
Some hours later, the first image of the horizon comes in.

339
00:19:06,130 --> 00:19:07,603
And that did elicit gasps.

340
00:19:09,457 --> 00:19:12,207
(dramatic music)

341
00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:20,256
Well, the first pictures from each

342
00:19:20,256 --> 00:19:21,670
of the two Viking landers

343
00:19:21,670 --> 00:19:25,340
were each moments in human history to be remembered.

344
00:19:25,340 --> 00:19:28,090
(dramatic music)

345
00:19:29,070 --> 00:19:31,160
They were geological snapshots

346
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,153
into the workings of another world.

347
00:19:34,980 --> 00:19:36,953
It was a world with climate.

348
00:19:39,530 --> 00:19:42,763
We saw frost condesates form on Mars.

349
00:19:45,330 --> 00:19:48,632
We saw the sunset; we took early morning sunrise.

350
00:19:48,632 --> 00:19:51,382
(dramatic music)

351
00:19:53,652 --> 00:19:55,180
We watched dust storms over the period

352
00:19:55,180 --> 00:19:56,363
of hundreds of sols.

353
00:19:59,510 --> 00:20:00,873
It's not easily forgotten.

354
00:20:01,969 --> 00:20:04,640
(dramatic music)

355
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:08,440
We are the only generation that will ever explore

356
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,880
the solar system for the first time.

357
00:20:14,230 --> 00:20:17,330
When we landed successfully on Mars,

358
00:20:17,330 --> 00:20:19,530
humanity had for the first time

359
00:20:19,530 --> 00:20:22,083
become a category two species.

360
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,360
A category one species is one whose sphere

361
00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,030
of influence is only its planet and its moons.

362
00:20:31,030 --> 00:20:33,710
A category two species reaches out

363
00:20:33,710 --> 00:20:36,347
and discovers what's in its solar system.

364
00:20:36,347 --> 00:20:39,097
(dramatic music)

365
00:20:43,420 --> 00:20:47,083
We still knew there was everything ahead of us.

366
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,370
We were just sort of dying to get our hands

367
00:20:51,370 --> 00:20:53,691
into the soil, so to speak.

368
00:20:53,691 --> 00:20:55,300
(dramatic music)

369
00:20:55,300 --> 00:20:57,740
We wanted to find out if there was life on Mars.

370
00:20:57,740 --> 00:21:00,047
Well, how do you do that back in that day?

371
00:21:01,670 --> 00:21:03,850
I understand that when proposals were

372
00:21:03,850 --> 00:21:06,240
submitted to send experiments to Mars

373
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,250
that one guy had submitted a proposal

374
00:21:10,250 --> 00:21:13,853
of just putting a little pan of food out there (laughs).

375
00:21:13,853 --> 00:21:16,853
(calm gentle music)

376
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,610
The life science experiments for Viking

377
00:21:20,610 --> 00:21:24,013
were fairly basic in design, but very ingenious.

378
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,963
We humans, we breathe in oxygen, but we exhale CO2.

379
00:21:31,490 --> 00:21:35,460
Plants breathe in CO2 and they release oxygen.

380
00:21:35,460 --> 00:21:36,810
In other words, metabolism.

381
00:21:39,860 --> 00:21:42,370
The biology experiment on Viking

382
00:21:42,370 --> 00:21:45,010
had three separate investigations

383
00:21:45,010 --> 00:21:49,053
and each one was testing for a different type of metabolism.

384
00:21:49,890 --> 00:21:52,910
When NASA accepted my experiment,

385
00:21:52,910 --> 00:21:55,970
we called it Gulliver because it was going

386
00:21:55,970 --> 00:22:00,260
to a far-off place looking for tiny little beings.

387
00:22:00,260 --> 00:22:03,640
But NASA changed it to a much more serious name,

388
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:05,533
the Labeled Release Experiment.

389
00:22:07,270 --> 00:22:09,870
I hated it; I really did.

390
00:22:09,870 --> 00:22:11,010
Such a dumb name.

391
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,507
(dramatic music)

392
00:22:15,507 --> 00:22:17,150
(clock ticks)

393
00:22:17,150 --> 00:22:19,850
It took 12 days after Viking landed

394
00:22:19,850 --> 00:22:23,120
before we conducted the first experiment.

395
00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,250
(dramatic music)

396
00:22:26,250 --> 00:22:29,090
The Viking arm extends out

397
00:22:29,090 --> 00:22:31,883
about 10 or 12 feet from the spacecraft.

398
00:22:32,830 --> 00:22:35,210
(dramatic music)

399
00:22:35,210 --> 00:22:39,380
It then is dragged back in, collecting its sample,

400
00:22:39,380 --> 00:22:42,885
which it puts into a sample distribution box.

401
00:22:42,885 --> 00:22:45,260
(dramatic music)

402
00:22:45,260 --> 00:22:49,503
Samples are then distributed to the individual experiments.

403
00:22:50,612 --> 00:22:52,670
(clock ticks)

404
00:22:52,670 --> 00:22:55,725
The experiment ran for seven days.

405
00:22:55,725 --> 00:22:58,475
(dramatic music)

406
00:23:00,370 --> 00:23:02,310
To say that there's life on Mars

407
00:23:02,310 --> 00:23:06,150
would be an astronomical discovery,

408
00:23:06,150 --> 00:23:08,698
probably the a greatest discovery ever ever.

409
00:23:08,698 --> 00:23:11,448
(dramatic music)

410
00:23:13,670 --> 00:23:16,060
It was 10 days before the first data

411
00:23:16,060 --> 00:23:18,377
came in from the Labeled Release experiment.

412
00:23:18,377 --> 00:23:21,270
(clock ticks)

413
00:23:21,270 --> 00:23:24,130
I was surrounded by several members of the team,

414
00:23:24,130 --> 00:23:29,130
including Gil, and I hit the print button and we all waited.

415
00:23:30,402 --> 00:23:32,902
(clock ticks)

416
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,113
Then all of a sudden, in a flash.

417
00:23:36,113 --> 00:23:38,863
(dramatic music)

418
00:23:39,999 --> 00:23:42,949
There were the data points, and it was a positive response.

419
00:23:44,730 --> 00:23:49,093
I was stunned; "My God, it's positive," I said.

420
00:23:50,930 --> 00:23:53,713
That's life, I know it, I know it when I see it.

421
00:23:54,965 --> 00:23:56,980
It was clearly a positive response.

422
00:23:56,980 --> 00:23:58,283
No questions about it.

423
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,980
It appeared that there really was life there.

424
00:24:04,980 --> 00:24:07,010
(dramatic music)

425
00:24:07,010 --> 00:24:09,703
I sent out for cigars and champagne.

426
00:24:11,330 --> 00:24:15,530
I had all 10 or 11 people sign that first graph

427
00:24:15,530 --> 00:24:19,317
that came down on which I wrote,

428
00:24:19,317 --> 00:24:23,267
"Tonight, it all began tonight, it all began tonight."

429
00:24:24,502 --> 00:24:27,252
(dramatic music)

430
00:24:32,170 --> 00:24:34,410
Suddenly, everybody on the Viking

431
00:24:34,410 --> 00:24:36,510
mission became a biologist,

432
00:24:36,510 --> 00:24:41,010
and nobody was willing to say that that was life.

433
00:24:41,010 --> 00:24:44,785
They all had alternative explanations for it.

434
00:24:44,785 --> 00:24:46,530
My best guess at this point would be--

435
00:24:46,530 --> 00:24:48,320
The general interpretation was well,

436
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,180
there must have been something geologic

437
00:24:50,180 --> 00:24:52,640
or some property of the soil on Mars

438
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,170
that gave this positive result.

439
00:24:55,170 --> 00:24:58,050
Exotic things like super oxides.

440
00:24:58,050 --> 00:25:00,543
I didn't even know what a super oxide was.

441
00:25:02,330 --> 00:25:03,410
Maybe it had something to do

442
00:25:03,410 --> 00:25:04,780
with the presence of perchlorates

443
00:25:04,780 --> 00:25:06,680
which are a particular type of salt

444
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,240
and they can cause some funky things to happen in soil.

445
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,902
That could have had some affect on the results.

446
00:25:12,902 --> 00:25:15,450
(dramatic music)

447
00:25:15,450 --> 00:25:18,810
The second factor was that another experiment,

448
00:25:18,810 --> 00:25:23,660
which was Norm Horowitz, did not see important responses

449
00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:25,160
to what they did to the soil.

450
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,280
At least there are no data that it's because--

451
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,780
Norm Horowitz was far more skeptical,

452
00:25:30,780 --> 00:25:32,520
and he was absolutely convinced there

453
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:34,521
wasn't any life on Mars.

454
00:25:34,521 --> 00:25:36,530
They're made out of carbonaceous material.

455
00:25:36,530 --> 00:25:37,363
We don't know--

456
00:25:37,363 --> 00:25:40,499
Norm Horowitz's position was very strange.

457
00:25:40,499 --> 00:25:42,020
There's no evidence there there is a --

458
00:25:42,020 --> 00:25:45,660
He said not only is there no life on Mars,

459
00:25:45,660 --> 00:25:48,730
but we now know why there's no life on Mars.

460
00:25:48,730 --> 00:25:50,293
It has no liquid water.

461
00:25:51,410 --> 00:25:53,260
I feel he was not objective (laughs).

462
00:25:55,340 --> 00:25:57,303
Scientists has to keep an open mind.

463
00:26:00,510 --> 00:26:03,010
The concept of saying, okay, we found life

464
00:26:03,010 --> 00:26:05,640
was all about each of these experiments

465
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:07,610
were going to be able to say

466
00:26:07,610 --> 00:26:10,590
I found life, I found life, I found life.

467
00:26:10,590 --> 00:26:14,890
So you had a positive indication for each one of those.

468
00:26:14,890 --> 00:26:17,909
The other two life detection tests were negative.

469
00:26:17,909 --> 00:26:20,659
(dramatic music)

470
00:26:22,420 --> 00:26:26,133
Skepticism mounted, except in the case of.

471
00:26:27,910 --> 00:26:29,940
NASA didn't entertain

472
00:26:29,940 --> 00:26:32,000
that the error may have been

473
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,930
with the instrument looking for organic matter.

474
00:26:34,930 --> 00:26:36,340
We don't know that yet.

475
00:26:36,340 --> 00:26:39,950
We have not definitely proved that Viking

476
00:26:39,950 --> 00:26:41,373
did not find life.

477
00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:46,020
Unfortunately, the people who were the

478
00:26:46,020 --> 00:26:49,660
highest-ranking scientists had their say

479
00:26:49,660 --> 00:26:52,127
and drowned out the people who were saying,

480
00:26:52,127 --> 00:26:54,137
"But, but, but, but."

481
00:26:54,137 --> 00:26:57,028
(dramatic music)

482
00:26:57,028 --> 00:26:59,480
(loud chatter)

483
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,523
Zilch, there was nothing.

484
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,150
(dramatic music)

485
00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:12,457
So Norman Horowitz concludes at the end of this process,

486
00:27:12,457 --> 00:27:14,507
"It is now virtually certain that the Earth

487
00:27:14,507 --> 00:27:16,307
"is the only life-bearing planet

488
00:27:16,307 --> 00:27:17,933
"in our region of the galaxy.

489
00:27:18,787 --> 00:27:20,593
"We have waked from a dream.

490
00:27:21,969 --> 00:27:23,887
"We are alone."

491
00:27:23,887 --> 00:27:26,637
(dramatic music)

492
00:27:30,156 --> 00:27:34,406
Well, how does he know (laughs)?

493
00:27:36,718 --> 00:27:39,468
(dramatic music)

494
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,260
I sent him a letter trying to convince him,

495
00:27:45,260 --> 00:27:47,587
and he sent me a letter back saying,

496
00:27:47,587 --> 00:27:50,777
"Gil, what you said is all nonsense,

497
00:27:50,777 --> 00:27:54,850
"and there's no reason for us to communicate any further."

498
00:27:54,850 --> 00:27:55,903
That broke my heart.

499
00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:58,553
Yeah.

500
00:27:59,432 --> 00:28:02,182
(dramatic music)

501
00:28:05,554 --> 00:28:06,783
Blast off.

502
00:28:06,783 --> 00:28:10,337
(dramatic music)

503
00:28:10,337 --> 00:28:12,700
The Viking results certainly caused

504
00:28:12,700 --> 00:28:15,310
a hiatus in Mars exploration

505
00:28:15,310 --> 00:28:18,676
and even longer hiatus in looking for life.

506
00:28:18,676 --> 00:28:19,597
Picture will cover an area

507
00:28:19,597 --> 00:28:22,180
of approximately 176 miles.

508
00:28:22,180 --> 00:28:25,548
We lost the Mars program for a whole 20 years.

509
00:28:25,548 --> 00:28:30,548
What are we gonna do if we see H-E-L-P

510
00:28:30,973 --> 00:28:32,696
stamped in the sand?

511
00:28:32,696 --> 00:28:35,447
(dramatic music)

512
00:28:35,447 --> 00:28:37,040
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

513
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,590
Welcome to NASA Headquarters

514
00:28:38,590 --> 00:28:40,580
and what promises to be a very exciting

515
00:28:40,580 --> 00:28:43,110
and controversial news conference today.

516
00:28:43,110 --> 00:28:45,860
(dramatic music)

517
00:28:48,602 --> 00:28:49,990
So if I can introduce the team,

518
00:28:49,990 --> 00:28:53,920
first, Everett Gibson from the Johnson Space Center.

519
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,960
He's a geochemist with over 20 years

520
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,550
of investigations in lunar sample work.

521
00:28:59,550 --> 00:29:03,233
In 1984, scientists were in the ice fields of Antarctica.

522
00:29:03,233 --> 00:29:05,960
(dramatic music)

523
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,632
They found a rock that had a slightly unusual color to it.

524
00:29:10,632 --> 00:29:13,382
(dramatic music)

525
00:29:16,290 --> 00:29:19,760
And it was picked up and brought back.

526
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,940
And then the scientists at NASA

527
00:29:21,940 --> 00:29:23,440
was able to analyze this rock,

528
00:29:25,777 --> 00:29:29,210
and he realized the gases that were trapped in this rock

529
00:29:30,510 --> 00:29:33,290
matched exactly the gases that the Viking

530
00:29:33,290 --> 00:29:37,499
spacecraft has measured on the surface of Mars.

531
00:29:37,499 --> 00:29:40,249
(dramatic music)

532
00:29:42,030 --> 00:29:43,513
He had a smoking gun.

533
00:29:46,490 --> 00:29:49,290
We had a rock from Mars.

534
00:29:49,290 --> 00:29:51,380
What I would like to do this afternoon

535
00:29:51,380 --> 00:29:54,470
is lead you through our story,

536
00:29:54,470 --> 00:29:57,040
which is a bit of a detective story.

537
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,720
We had a rock from Mars that in an area

538
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,193
it has these carbonate globules.

539
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:08,053
So what we then did is take some of the carbonate globules,

540
00:30:09,820 --> 00:30:14,583
gave them false names, sent them to Stanford University.

541
00:30:16,218 --> 00:30:18,443
They did the analysis.

542
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,570
A spectrum appeared, organic matter in our samples.

543
00:30:24,570 --> 00:30:27,333
I'd like to welcome everybody here today.

544
00:30:28,410 --> 00:30:30,590
It's an unbelievable day.

545
00:30:30,590 --> 00:30:32,950
It's very, very exciting for me.

546
00:30:32,950 --> 00:30:35,950
Not just one sample, multiple samples.

547
00:30:35,950 --> 00:30:39,370
The dedication, knowledge, and painstaking research.

548
00:30:39,370 --> 00:30:41,040
We worked on it for four years.

549
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,150
Have brought us to a day that may well

550
00:30:43,150 --> 00:30:46,430
go down in history for American science,

551
00:30:46,430 --> 00:30:48,990
for the American people, and indeed, humanity.

552
00:30:48,990 --> 00:30:51,150
One evening, we were looking around,

553
00:30:51,150 --> 00:30:52,520
scanning and looking, and suddenly we

554
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,600
starting finding these segmented structures.

555
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,550
And that caught our attention.

556
00:30:58,550 --> 00:31:00,130
These segmented structures looked

557
00:31:00,130 --> 00:31:02,000
like a desiccated worm.

558
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,653
If I could have the next slide.

559
00:31:05,530 --> 00:31:07,660
If you had a segmented worm,

560
00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:09,610
and you took all the water out of it,

561
00:31:09,610 --> 00:31:10,860
he would shrink and he'd leave

562
00:31:10,860 --> 00:31:13,400
this morphology that was left.

563
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,960
The simplest explanation to us is that they

564
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,444
are the remains of Martian life.

565
00:31:21,444 --> 00:31:23,610
This was a major discovery.

566
00:31:23,610 --> 00:31:25,500
I can honestly say that it's undoubtedly

567
00:31:25,500 --> 00:31:26,730
the most exciting time I've done

568
00:31:26,730 --> 00:31:29,390
in my 27 years as a scientist.

569
00:31:29,390 --> 00:31:31,200
And so we put our data out there,

570
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,714
and let the people shoot at it.

571
00:31:33,714 --> 00:31:34,854
Questions, please?

572
00:31:34,854 --> 00:31:35,687
Jim.

573
00:31:35,687 --> 00:31:38,070
If this is correct, if you have found life

574
00:31:38,070 --> 00:31:38,903
once existed on Mars--

575
00:31:38,903 --> 00:31:40,685
Additional work needs to be done.

576
00:31:40,685 --> 00:31:43,770
I think it's science consensus built slowly.

577
00:31:43,770 --> 00:31:45,750
If you could characterize a smoking gun.

578
00:31:45,750 --> 00:31:48,920
Who is to say that we are not all Martians?

579
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,187
David Chandler from the Boston Globe.

580
00:31:51,187 --> 00:31:55,380
One of the investigators of the Viking life detection tests

581
00:31:55,380 --> 00:31:57,480
has maintained the Labeled Release experiment did,

582
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,733
in fact, produce evidence of current life on Mars.

583
00:32:04,871 --> 00:32:06,870
Do you think there will be a reexamination

584
00:32:06,870 --> 00:32:09,550
of the result of that experiment?

585
00:32:09,550 --> 00:32:11,620
I think I'll handle that one.

586
00:32:11,620 --> 00:32:13,770
This result that you heard about today

587
00:32:13,770 --> 00:32:17,280
has only something to say about the possibility

588
00:32:18,354 --> 00:32:21,561
of life early in the planet's history,

589
00:32:21,561 --> 00:32:23,394
but not really about--

590
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:27,480
Good afternoon.

591
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,210
Presidents don't tend to make big speeches about space,

592
00:32:30,210 --> 00:32:32,710
so it took over the media.

593
00:32:32,710 --> 00:32:35,210
If this discovery is confirmed,

594
00:32:35,210 --> 00:32:37,790
it will surely be one of the most stunning insights

595
00:32:37,790 --> 00:32:41,273
into our universe that science has ever uncovered.

596
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,040
But then when it started becoming more and more

597
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,620
scrutinized by other scientists taking a look at it,

598
00:32:47,620 --> 00:32:50,510
it became more and more generally accepted by the community

599
00:32:50,510 --> 00:32:52,630
that these were actually features that were left behind

600
00:32:52,630 --> 00:32:55,100
by a geological process and not by life.

601
00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:57,670
I am determined that the American space program

602
00:32:57,670 --> 00:32:59,500
will put its full intellectual power

603
00:32:59,500 --> 00:33:02,490
and technological prowess behind the search

604
00:33:02,490 --> 00:33:05,700
for further evidence of life on Mars.

605
00:33:05,700 --> 00:33:07,320
Liftoff with the Mars observer

606
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,503
and America's return to the Red Planet.

607
00:33:10,380 --> 00:33:13,010
Even though that conclusion is still under

608
00:33:13,010 --> 00:33:15,950
a large amount of debate and question,

609
00:33:15,950 --> 00:33:18,850
it did revitalize the interest in Mars.

610
00:33:18,850 --> 00:33:21,900
We're good symmetrical burn on all six outlets.

611
00:33:21,900 --> 00:33:23,270
This story didn't have to be true

612
00:33:23,270 --> 00:33:24,690
for people to get inspired.

613
00:33:24,690 --> 00:33:27,890
Just the idea that there might be life on Mars

614
00:33:27,890 --> 00:33:30,590
was probably enough to get a bunch of people inspired.

615
00:33:32,030 --> 00:33:37,030
Those findings stimulated a lot of attention to Mars,

616
00:33:37,577 --> 00:33:39,489
and that was beneficial.

617
00:33:39,489 --> 00:33:42,239
(dramatic music)

618
00:33:47,110 --> 00:33:48,590
The question was asked,

619
00:33:48,590 --> 00:33:50,840
do we go to the surface with some new thing?

620
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,390
Do we put outriggers on a lander to make it tougher?

621
00:33:53,390 --> 00:33:55,570
Or do we move?

622
00:33:55,570 --> 00:33:57,650
They said, "Okay, what would science want?"

623
00:33:57,650 --> 00:34:01,777
And science said, "We want to be mobile and go."

624
00:34:03,770 --> 00:34:05,824
And so we went for it.

625
00:34:05,824 --> 00:34:07,500
(dramatic music)

626
00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:11,937
Two Rovers, two landing sites, two payloads.

627
00:34:11,937 --> 00:34:15,090
(dramatic music)

628
00:34:15,090 --> 00:34:17,840
Spirit and Opportunity were two solar-powered robots

629
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,310
that would have the ability to rove around

630
00:34:19,310 --> 00:34:21,400
and analyze rocks and soil on Mars.

631
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,510
And liftoff of the Delta 2 rocket

632
00:34:24,510 --> 00:34:27,160
carrying the Spirit from Earth to planet Mars.

633
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:28,600
Now in the post-Viking era,

634
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:32,050
the mission shied away from explicitly searching for life,

635
00:34:32,050 --> 00:34:33,667
and instead went for the next best thing.

636
00:34:33,667 --> 00:34:35,560
T plus 20 seconds.

637
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,550
Spirit and Opportunity never started

638
00:34:37,550 --> 00:34:39,960
out with the mantra of let's go find life.

639
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:41,740
We're approaching Mach 1.

640
00:34:41,740 --> 00:34:44,427
But if you were to ask the astrobiologists,

641
00:34:44,427 --> 00:34:46,687
"Give me a definition of life,

642
00:34:46,687 --> 00:34:50,127
"so that I could go out and find it in the solar system,

643
00:34:50,127 --> 00:34:53,070
"the key ingredient is water."

644
00:34:53,070 --> 00:34:54,490
Positions look good.

645
00:34:54,490 --> 00:34:56,090
So Spirit and Opportunity were

646
00:34:56,090 --> 00:34:58,743
looking for water-modified rocks.

647
00:34:58,743 --> 00:35:00,830
Jettisoned all six solid.

648
00:35:00,830 --> 00:35:02,450
We've ignited the other three.

649
00:35:02,450 --> 00:35:05,857
The whole concept was let's follow the water.

650
00:35:05,857 --> 00:35:08,607
(dramatic music)

651
00:35:09,670 --> 00:35:10,970
T plus 20 seconds.

652
00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:14,373
And a good evening from the flight deck.

653
00:35:14,373 --> 00:35:15,360
At this time, we are approximately

654
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,160
five minutes 53 seconds from equator of Mars.

655
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:19,210
Weather today at the landing site

656
00:35:19,210 --> 00:35:20,470
is expected to be fairly mild,

657
00:35:20,470 --> 00:35:23,350
with temperatures averaging about minus 15 degrees C.

658
00:35:23,350 --> 00:35:25,200
And there is no chance of rain today.

659
00:35:26,345 --> 00:35:27,260
At this time, we invite you to sit back,

660
00:35:27,260 --> 00:35:28,093
enjoy the landing.

661
00:35:28,093 --> 00:35:29,040
It's gonna be ride.

662
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,143
Three, two, one.

663
00:35:31,143 --> 00:35:33,820
(dramatic music)

664
00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:34,747
Vehicles have now hit the top

665
00:35:34,747 --> 00:35:37,161
of the Martian atmosphere.

666
00:35:37,161 --> 00:35:37,994
We are moving at a speed of 12,187 miles per hour.

667
00:35:41,963 --> 00:35:44,586
Entry plus 30, altitude 60 miles.

668
00:35:44,586 --> 00:35:47,850
(dramatic music)

669
00:35:47,850 --> 00:35:49,491
Parachutes deployed and ejected.

670
00:35:49,491 --> 00:35:51,957
(group cheers)

671
00:35:51,957 --> 00:35:54,193
We have a positive indication of parachute deployed.

672
00:35:55,350 --> 00:35:57,788
Heat shield separation self detected.

673
00:35:57,788 --> 00:35:59,535
(group applauds)

674
00:35:59,535 --> 00:36:01,116
We have confirmation from the spacecraft

675
00:36:01,116 --> 00:36:03,507
that the flight has attempted to jettison.

676
00:36:03,507 --> 00:36:04,348
Yes, it has fired.

677
00:36:04,348 --> 00:36:06,176
We have confirmation.

678
00:36:06,176 --> 00:36:07,009
(group cheers)

679
00:36:07,009 --> 00:36:07,847
The rockets have ignited.

680
00:36:07,847 --> 00:36:09,514
We are now awaiting confirmation

681
00:36:09,514 --> 00:36:12,597
of positive signals found on the rim.

682
00:36:13,485 --> 00:36:14,943
Getting a bouncing signal.

683
00:36:14,943 --> 00:36:15,999
(group cheers)

684
00:36:15,999 --> 00:36:16,899
Getting bounce signal.

685
00:36:16,899 --> 00:36:17,732
We are getting a bounce signal.

686
00:36:17,732 --> 00:36:18,838
Getting confirmation from spacecraft.

687
00:36:18,838 --> 00:36:21,426
Bouncing and alive on Mars,

688
00:36:21,426 --> 00:36:23,230
however this bouncing--

689
00:36:23,230 --> 00:36:24,920
Stop, hold on.

690
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:27,100
We have a momentary loss of the signal.

691
00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:29,270
As the spacecraft is bouncing on the surface,

692
00:36:29,270 --> 00:36:30,920
it is difficult to maintain lock.

693
00:36:31,770 --> 00:36:33,890
We need to reacquire the signal

694
00:36:33,890 --> 00:36:36,290
to have positive confirmation of a safe landing.

695
00:36:39,338 --> 00:36:40,383
We're seeing it on the LCT.

696
00:36:40,383 --> 00:36:42,966
(group cheers)

697
00:36:44,088 --> 00:36:45,752
We're on Mars, everybody.

698
00:36:45,752 --> 00:36:47,658
(group cheers)

699
00:36:47,658 --> 00:36:49,876
(group applauds)

700
00:36:49,876 --> 00:36:52,626
(dramatic music)

701
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:17,560
Spirit landed in a region called Gusev Crater.

702
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,380
During the landing site selection process,

703
00:37:23,380 --> 00:37:26,620
we used a camera that was on the Mars global surveyor.

704
00:37:26,620 --> 00:37:29,563
And it trained and took pictures of the ground.

705
00:37:32,020 --> 00:37:35,120
Gusev crater has a drainage channel

706
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,710
that extends for thousands of kilometers

707
00:37:37,710 --> 00:37:39,710
through the ancient highlands,

708
00:37:39,710 --> 00:37:43,323
and looks like it filled that crater up with a lake.

709
00:37:45,730 --> 00:37:48,970
This was a location where sedimentary rocks

710
00:37:48,970 --> 00:37:51,750
that could tell us about the environment,

711
00:37:51,750 --> 00:37:53,853
when it was active, would be.

712
00:37:54,856 --> 00:37:58,430
(dramatic music)

713
00:37:58,430 --> 00:38:01,574
We got images pretty quickly.

714
00:38:01,574 --> 00:38:03,603
(camera whines)

715
00:38:03,603 --> 00:38:06,353
(dramatic music)

716
00:38:16,407 --> 00:38:17,350
We thought it might be landing

717
00:38:17,350 --> 00:38:19,090
in the middle of an old lake.

718
00:38:19,090 --> 00:38:20,360
Unfortunately, we got there,

719
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,477
and we all we could see, basically, was volcanic stuff.

720
00:38:23,477 --> 00:38:26,227
(dramatic music)

721
00:38:30,131 --> 00:38:34,786
Gusev was basically a basaltic plain, which is lava flow.

722
00:38:34,786 --> 00:38:37,220
(camera whines)

723
00:38:37,220 --> 00:38:38,460
So if the lake had ever been there,

724
00:38:38,460 --> 00:38:41,337
it had been covered by volcanic materials.

725
00:38:41,337 --> 00:38:44,087
(dramatic music)

726
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:50,010
We were crestfallen that none of our predictions

727
00:38:50,010 --> 00:38:54,845
about what materials would be there, we were wrong.

728
00:38:54,845 --> 00:38:57,595
(dramatic music)

729
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,303
Opportunity was completely different.

730
00:39:06,750 --> 00:39:08,760
Opportunity really hit the bullseye

731
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,350
because it landed in a place called Isil Crater

732
00:39:11,350 --> 00:39:13,650
in which Mother Nature's done you a big favor.

733
00:39:15,276 --> 00:39:17,100
At some point, she slammed a meteorite

734
00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:18,410
into the surface of the planet,

735
00:39:18,410 --> 00:39:22,250
excavating this big hole and basically

736
00:39:22,250 --> 00:39:25,640
gave you this archeological dig, if you will.

737
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,387
You land in the middle of it,

738
00:39:27,387 --> 00:39:28,980
and all you gotta do is look around,

739
00:39:28,980 --> 00:39:30,543
and here's the history of Mars.

740
00:39:32,730 --> 00:39:35,163
For geologists, outcrops are currency.

741
00:39:36,730 --> 00:39:39,537
And we saw sedimentary rocks.

742
00:39:39,537 --> 00:39:42,287
(dramatic music)

743
00:39:45,070 --> 00:39:47,650
When geologists go out in the field here on Earth,

744
00:39:47,650 --> 00:39:50,290
they wanna look for layers of sediment

745
00:39:50,290 --> 00:39:52,761
that have accumulated over time.

746
00:39:52,761 --> 00:39:54,550
(dramatic music)

747
00:39:54,550 --> 00:39:58,330
This is literally the historical pages

748
00:39:58,330 --> 00:40:00,023
of the book of the Earth.

749
00:40:01,750 --> 00:40:04,140
This level was where the dinosaurs were,

750
00:40:04,140 --> 00:40:06,570
and at this level, they died,

751
00:40:06,570 --> 00:40:09,263
and at this level, new life became.

752
00:40:11,100 --> 00:40:13,843
You can just read that book of history.

753
00:40:15,350 --> 00:40:17,803
That's what we found on Mars.

754
00:40:19,180 --> 00:40:20,740
Because they had the robotic arm

755
00:40:20,740 --> 00:40:21,970
and they had instruments on the arm,

756
00:40:21,970 --> 00:40:24,783
you can find out exactly what they're composed of.

757
00:40:26,430 --> 00:40:29,060
There was this treasure trove of information

758
00:40:29,060 --> 00:40:31,033
that just came flooding back.

759
00:40:31,921 --> 00:40:33,280
There were not igneous rocks.

760
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:35,640
These were sedimentary rocks that would have been

761
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:40,377
formed by liquid water.

762
00:40:40,377 --> 00:40:43,800
(dramatic music)

763
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,770
They had gone through periods of groundwater

764
00:40:47,770 --> 00:40:50,020
that had changed their composition,

765
00:40:50,020 --> 00:40:52,540
and it was a classic sedimentary sequence

766
00:40:52,540 --> 00:40:55,263
that we've seen on the Earth in many places.

767
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:00,910
And this is where it really gets interesting.

768
00:41:03,570 --> 00:41:06,600
We see these little bead-like things in the soil.

769
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:07,970
We thought what could these be?

770
00:41:07,970 --> 00:41:10,320
Many people started conjecturing,

771
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,470
but when we put the infrared eyes on them,

772
00:41:12,470 --> 00:41:15,630
we can see iron and oxygen in them.

773
00:41:15,630 --> 00:41:18,937
We're thinking, "Holy crap, Batman."

774
00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:22,029
We found hematite.

775
00:41:22,029 --> 00:41:24,930
(dramatic music)

776
00:41:24,930 --> 00:41:27,530
Hematite is a mineral here on Earth

777
00:41:27,530 --> 00:41:29,093
that's formed in water,

778
00:41:30,730 --> 00:41:33,000
and a lot of it in moving water,

779
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:34,900
that allows this mineral to be formed.

780
00:41:35,887 --> 00:41:37,823
And they were all over the place.

781
00:41:40,570 --> 00:41:44,358
Oh my gosh, we found the Holy Grail.

782
00:41:44,358 --> 00:41:47,108
(dramatic music)

783
00:41:48,900 --> 00:41:50,440
So the whole point of the Mars

784
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,880
exploration Rovers was roving.

785
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:54,497
We wanna move.

786
00:41:54,497 --> 00:41:57,247
(dramatic music)

787
00:41:59,930 --> 00:42:01,360
Now the Spirit and Opportunity mission

788
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:04,050
was expected to last just 90 days.

789
00:42:04,050 --> 00:42:06,320
But as both of them traversed the Martian surface,

790
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,464
they soon blew right past that.

791
00:42:08,464 --> 00:42:11,214
(dramatic music)

792
00:42:13,210 --> 00:42:15,630
We hopped from crater and crater and crater

793
00:42:18,270 --> 00:42:20,163
and drove tens of kilometers.

794
00:42:21,970 --> 00:42:26,223
They outdid their warranty by factors of hundreds.

795
00:42:29,020 --> 00:42:30,850
We're several years into the mission

796
00:42:30,850 --> 00:42:33,653
that we had real trouble with Spirit.

797
00:42:37,130 --> 00:42:39,923
Spirit had lost one drive wheel.

798
00:42:41,790 --> 00:42:45,433
In doing so, we got stuck in a sandy crater,

799
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:48,783
and it was very difficult.

800
00:42:50,090 --> 00:42:52,163
And that was the end of Spirit, yeah.

801
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,400
(dramatic music)

802
00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,200
But Opportunity just shines like a radiant star,

803
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:03,926
'cause this Rover keeps going and going and going.

804
00:43:03,926 --> 00:43:06,990
(dramatic music)

805
00:43:06,990 --> 00:43:11,463
Opportunity really began to show evidence of past water.

806
00:43:12,490 --> 00:43:15,300
We started to see the kind of mineral signatures

807
00:43:15,300 --> 00:43:16,760
that were the stuff of dreams,

808
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:20,060
that support water as a persistent liquid thing.

809
00:43:20,060 --> 00:43:24,350
Water that forms and--
Caused by water.

810
00:43:24,350 --> 00:43:25,183
Acid rain.

811
00:43:25,183 --> 00:43:27,158
River flows, groundwaters.

812
00:43:27,158 --> 00:43:29,110
If you were there when the water was there,

813
00:43:29,110 --> 00:43:30,590
you could drink it.

814
00:43:30,590 --> 00:43:33,823
This is just this ongoing saga of water.

815
00:43:34,830 --> 00:43:37,080
Water, water, everywhere.

816
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:39,560
(dramatic music)

817
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,453
Then in 2012, a new Rover drops into the party.

818
00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:45,880
Curiosity, equipped with a drill

819
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,363
and carrying an entire laboratory on its back.

820
00:43:49,250 --> 00:43:50,780
This machine rolled into town

821
00:43:50,780 --> 00:43:53,812
and immediately changed our view of the Red Planet.

822
00:43:53,812 --> 00:43:55,660
(dramatic music)

823
00:43:55,660 --> 00:43:59,850
As we dug into the soils, and we found,

824
00:43:59,850 --> 00:44:03,000
to our delight, it had carbon, hydrogen,

825
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,910
oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur.

826
00:44:06,910 --> 00:44:10,163
That's everything between these two fingers.

827
00:44:12,370 --> 00:44:17,370
All the right stuff that life is made of is on Mars.

828
00:44:18,611 --> 00:44:21,361
(dramatic music)

829
00:44:22,650 --> 00:44:24,780
Meanwhile, after 15 years on the surface,

830
00:44:24,780 --> 00:44:28,180
Opportunity had covered a record-breaking 28 miles,

831
00:44:28,180 --> 00:44:30,063
documenting every step of the way.

832
00:44:32,010 --> 00:44:34,020
It's this unstoppable machine.

833
00:44:34,020 --> 00:44:36,117
It just keeps driving.

834
00:44:36,117 --> 00:44:38,867
(dramatic music)

835
00:44:42,270 --> 00:44:44,743
And then in June of 2018,

836
00:44:47,190 --> 00:44:48,990
here's a dust storm in the distance.

837
00:44:50,233 --> 00:44:52,983
(dramatic music)

838
00:44:53,890 --> 00:44:56,208
It turns out to be a whopper.

839
00:44:56,208 --> 00:44:59,410
(dramatic music)

840
00:44:59,410 --> 00:45:01,810
The sun was almost blacked out.

841
00:45:04,090 --> 00:45:09,090
And at that point, there was no power getting to the panels,

842
00:45:09,100 --> 00:45:11,453
and we've lost contact.

843
00:45:12,379 --> 00:45:15,129
(dramatic music)

844
00:45:16,930 --> 00:45:19,720
Four months, we don't hear anything.

845
00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:20,763
It's gone silent.

846
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,363
We all just kind of held out hope.

847
00:45:27,020 --> 00:45:28,630
We tried for months and months and months

848
00:45:28,630 --> 00:45:31,053
until there was just nothing.

849
00:45:31,053 --> 00:45:33,540
(dramatic music)

850
00:45:33,540 --> 00:45:37,683
And at that point, eventually you say that's the end, yeah.

851
00:45:37,683 --> 00:45:40,433
(dramatic music)

852
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,180
We had one final day where they called the team

853
00:45:56,180 --> 00:45:58,870
out to JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

854
00:45:58,870 --> 00:46:00,610
where anybody that wanted to come and be there

855
00:46:00,610 --> 00:46:02,876
when they sent the final commands could come.

856
00:46:02,876 --> 00:46:05,970
(dramatic music)

857
00:46:05,970 --> 00:46:09,360
We had all gathered in this area called the dark room,

858
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:11,320
overlooking mission operations,

859
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,470
and we're watching the flight commanders

860
00:46:13,470 --> 00:46:15,690
sending off the last commands to the Rover.

861
00:46:15,690 --> 00:46:18,959
We did basically four final pings.

862
00:46:18,959 --> 00:46:21,709
(dramatic music)

863
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:26,910
The light-time delay comes and goes.

864
00:46:26,910 --> 00:46:28,350
We got no signal.

865
00:46:28,350 --> 00:46:30,673
And everybody just kind of sits there in silence.

866
00:46:30,673 --> 00:46:33,423
(dramatic music)

867
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,120
And then the manager of the mission, John Callas--

868
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:41,090
This concludes operations for MER-1,

869
00:46:41,090 --> 00:46:43,600
spacecraft ID 253.

870
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,890
Says thank you for your 15 years of service.

871
00:46:47,890 --> 00:46:49,050
Thank you.

872
00:46:49,050 --> 00:46:51,090
But this is the end,

873
00:46:51,090 --> 00:46:53,803
so this is MER signing off the net.

874
00:46:55,240 --> 00:46:57,599
MER project off the net.

875
00:46:57,599 --> 00:47:00,349
(dramatic music)

876
00:47:01,190 --> 00:47:03,444
In the dark room, it was just silent,

877
00:47:03,444 --> 00:47:04,460
and everybody's kind of looking around

878
00:47:04,460 --> 00:47:07,997
and we're like, "This is it; this is actually the end."

879
00:47:09,385 --> 00:47:12,135
(dramatic music)

880
00:47:13,460 --> 00:47:16,332
It definitely lead to a lot of tears.

881
00:47:16,332 --> 00:47:19,082
(dramatic music)

882
00:47:27,500 --> 00:47:31,237
When we look at these missions, it's an enormous legacy.

883
00:47:31,237 --> 00:47:33,987
(dramatic music)

884
00:47:37,790 --> 00:47:39,940
What we know about Mars really has been

885
00:47:39,940 --> 00:47:42,030
built up over a series of missions,

886
00:47:42,030 --> 00:47:44,520
and we've learned really spectacular

887
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,548
things in each and every one of them.

888
00:47:47,548 --> 00:47:50,298
(dramatic music)

889
00:47:51,530 --> 00:47:54,790
We've gone from this first rapid flyby

890
00:47:54,790 --> 00:47:59,253
that sent back 22 images to today,

891
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,870
we've discovered that's it's not a dry, dead world.

892
00:48:04,410 --> 00:48:08,650
Four billion years ago, if I stood on Olympus Mons,

893
00:48:08,650 --> 00:48:13,650
I would see a vast ocean and begin to see the land.

894
00:48:15,010 --> 00:48:18,473
And maybe on that land was vegetation.

895
00:48:20,250 --> 00:48:24,100
Mars was wet, warm, wonderful,

896
00:48:24,100 --> 00:48:27,470
and there's no reason to believe that life

897
00:48:27,470 --> 00:48:31,346
did not develop on Mars four billion years ago.

898
00:48:31,346 --> 00:48:34,096
(dramatic music)

899
00:48:35,260 --> 00:48:37,320
The story is getting sharper.

900
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:40,530
Water, habitable environments in the past,

901
00:48:40,530 --> 00:48:44,503
organic molecules, this is a new Mars.

902
00:48:45,630 --> 00:48:47,329
The story's only gonna get better.

903
00:48:47,329 --> 00:48:50,079
(dramatic music)

904
00:49:07,030 --> 00:49:10,060
I am now 95 years old.

905
00:49:10,060 --> 00:49:13,203
Never give up, never, never,

906
00:49:14,165 --> 00:49:17,748
never, et cetera (laughs).

907
00:49:19,226 --> 00:49:22,059
(dramatic music)