1 00:00:01,936 --> 00:00:04,853 (mysterious music) 2 00:00:18,030 --> 00:00:21,300 Far out near the edge of the solar system 3 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:23,660 where the sun's light is weak 4 00:00:23,660 --> 00:00:28,463 lies a world that until recently was completely unexplored. 5 00:00:36,350 --> 00:00:38,920 Pluto is the amorous of the solar system, 6 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,713 the farthest and coldest and hardest to reach. 7 00:00:43,180 --> 00:00:46,760 By going to Pluto, we were looking beyond 8 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,123 the known solar system and exploring a whole new world. 9 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,550 This is the story of Pluto's exploration 10 00:00:54,550 --> 00:00:59,253 and what was found there told by those who dared to do it. 11 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:01,527 We're good? 12 00:01:01,527 --> 00:01:03,210 I need water for answering this question. 13 00:01:03,210 --> 00:01:05,710 Okay, I'll give you my personal opinion on this. 14 00:01:06,767 --> 00:01:09,470 A mission 25 years in the making 15 00:01:09,470 --> 00:01:13,033 attempting to discover our most ancient origins. 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,780 This mission represents the spirit of adventure 17 00:01:16,780 --> 00:01:19,170 and discovery and inquiry which is inherent 18 00:01:19,170 --> 00:01:20,403 in the human spirit. 19 00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:24,053 Which is our insatiable desire 20 00:01:24,053 --> 00:01:28,850 to explore the unknown and understand how we fit 21 00:01:28,850 --> 00:01:31,332 into this vast universe. 22 00:01:31,332 --> 00:01:35,582 We have ignition and we have liftoff. 23 00:01:50,550 --> 00:01:53,870 There really is something intrinsic 24 00:01:53,870 --> 00:01:57,501 in humans to want to explore. 25 00:01:57,501 --> 00:01:59,450 (dramatic music) 26 00:01:59,450 --> 00:02:03,200 You can look at it from an evolutionary perspective. 27 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,050 We didn't have the sharpest claws 28 00:02:05,050 --> 00:02:06,280 or the strongest muscles 29 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,020 but we had this ability to invent and explore 30 00:02:10,020 --> 00:02:11,893 and, you know we had curiosity. 31 00:02:14,630 --> 00:02:17,770 That's how we've come to exist all over this planet 32 00:02:17,770 --> 00:02:21,779 and that impulse doesn't stop at earth. 33 00:02:21,779 --> 00:02:24,279 (eerie music) 34 00:02:28,370 --> 00:02:30,520 The exploration of the outer solar system 35 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:32,543 began in the 1970s. 36 00:02:36,110 --> 00:02:40,840 And in 1977, a pair of spacecrafts called Voyager 1 37 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,310 and Voyager 2 set off to visit 38 00:02:43,310 --> 00:02:47,143 the most distant planets, including Uranus and Neptune. 39 00:02:48,370 --> 00:02:51,173 Voyager 2 was the first to leave Earth. 40 00:02:52,230 --> 00:02:54,720 Five, four, three, two, one, 41 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,848 we have ignition and we have liftoff. 42 00:03:01,848 --> 00:03:04,598 (dramatic music) 43 00:03:07,737 --> 00:03:10,570 (rocket rumbling) 44 00:03:12,726 --> 00:03:14,654 The first of two Voyager spacecrafts 45 00:03:14,654 --> 00:03:16,433 to extend mans' senses farther into the solar system 46 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:18,130 than ever before. 47 00:03:19,164 --> 00:03:22,164 (suspenseful music) 48 00:03:23,583 --> 00:03:26,100 The mission would fly past Jupiter, 49 00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:30,623 then Saturn before heading for the mysterious outer worlds. 50 00:03:33,290 --> 00:03:37,060 The Voyager mission was an incredible adventure 51 00:03:37,060 --> 00:03:39,319 because it was our first time 52 00:03:39,319 --> 00:03:43,110 to really visit all these worlds and start to get 53 00:03:43,110 --> 00:03:46,050 to know their systems, not just the planets themselves, 54 00:03:46,050 --> 00:03:47,483 but their moons. 55 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,560 Those of us that were involved felt almost as though 56 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,390 we were onboard the spacecraft lookin' out 57 00:03:55,390 --> 00:03:57,480 the little window and the images come up 58 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,030 on the screen and for the first time, 59 00:03:59,030 --> 00:04:00,580 you're seeing these new worlds. 60 00:04:17,780 --> 00:04:20,060 When we first visit these planets, they're fly bys. 61 00:04:20,060 --> 00:04:20,950 You're not going into orbit. 62 00:04:20,950 --> 00:04:21,900 You're not landing. 63 00:04:22,757 --> 00:04:24,130 It's just a very quick visit and you see it approaching 64 00:04:24,130 --> 00:04:25,530 and then all of a sudden there it is 65 00:04:25,530 --> 00:04:27,300 and then it's in the rear view mirror 66 00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:28,900 and you can't stop and you're still going 67 00:04:28,900 --> 00:04:30,800 so there's something about the pace 68 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,933 of discovery that's amazing. 69 00:04:46,536 --> 00:04:49,950 The first pictures of Uranus were a little bit boring 70 00:04:49,950 --> 00:04:51,660 and people were a little worried 71 00:04:51,660 --> 00:04:54,023 about the lack of jazziness. 72 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:00,893 Uranus is a weird planet. 73 00:05:04,661 --> 00:05:05,650 Instead of spinning, you know, 74 00:05:05,650 --> 00:05:09,050 like we're spinning 23 and a half degrees from vertical, 75 00:05:09,050 --> 00:05:10,630 Uranus is on its side. 76 00:05:10,630 --> 00:05:11,490 Tipped on its side. 77 00:05:11,490 --> 00:05:12,323 Why? 78 00:05:12,323 --> 00:05:13,156 We don't know. 79 00:05:13,156 --> 00:05:13,989 Very strange. 80 00:05:13,989 --> 00:05:15,090 Unlike all the other planets. 81 00:05:15,090 --> 00:05:18,680 Could it have been wanged by something going by, 82 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:20,803 tipping it over, we don't know. 83 00:05:25,460 --> 00:05:26,720 Systems to control. 84 00:05:28,365 --> 00:05:29,198 Copy. 85 00:05:29,198 --> 00:05:30,857 We see lock up on the green box (mumbles). 86 00:05:31,910 --> 00:05:35,793 September 1989, we're about to arrive at Neptune. 87 00:05:38,650 --> 00:05:40,193 Copy this, thank you. 88 00:05:47,829 --> 00:05:50,579 (dramatic music) 89 00:06:02,610 --> 00:06:04,980 Again, it's sort of cold and dim 90 00:06:04,980 --> 00:06:07,159 but Neptune is really 91 00:06:07,159 --> 00:06:09,503 a little bit more interesting than Uranus. 92 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,310 We see a blue atmosphere. 93 00:06:16,310 --> 00:06:20,680 Dark, deep clouds and then some white clouds above. 94 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,883 So there's a lot more structure than Uranus. 95 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,010 But perhaps the most important thing 96 00:06:26,010 --> 00:06:30,730 about Neptune's system is the big moon, Triton. 97 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,860 We are pretty sure at this point 98 00:06:44,860 --> 00:06:48,850 that Triton formed orbiting the sun just as Pluto did 99 00:06:48,850 --> 00:06:50,830 and somehow early in the solar system, 100 00:06:50,830 --> 00:06:53,303 it got captured into orbit around Neptune. 101 00:06:58,690 --> 00:07:02,452 We saw landscapes like nothing we had ever seen before. 102 00:07:02,452 --> 00:07:04,760 Looked like melted wax. 103 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,074 It was clearly a very active world. 104 00:07:07,074 --> 00:07:07,907 There weren't many craters 105 00:07:07,907 --> 00:07:10,233 so things had been happening very recently. 106 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,510 The most exciting thing and the weird thing that we saw 107 00:07:15,510 --> 00:07:20,510 were black plumes of smoke coming up out of some hole. 108 00:07:24,156 --> 00:07:29,156 (people clapping) (people chattering) 109 00:07:29,580 --> 00:07:33,653 So clearly, there's some geological activity going on here. 110 00:07:34,587 --> 00:07:37,700 (people chattering) 111 00:07:37,700 --> 00:07:40,418 And so Triton just instantly became 112 00:07:40,418 --> 00:07:43,810 this incredibly complex world. 113 00:07:43,810 --> 00:07:46,680 And seeing that which was thought sort of 114 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,350 to be a twin of Pluto, I think got a lot of people thinking, 115 00:07:49,350 --> 00:07:52,000 well, wait a minute, there are other worlds up there. 116 00:08:09,450 --> 00:08:13,330 For many of us, it was now what? 117 00:08:13,330 --> 00:08:15,690 What are we gonna do after Voyager? 118 00:08:15,690 --> 00:08:17,733 Is there life after Voyager? 119 00:08:18,849 --> 00:08:21,849 (upbeat rock music) 120 00:08:29,010 --> 00:08:32,930 I was lucky because a young man called Alan Stone, 121 00:08:32,930 --> 00:08:34,830 he was a graduate student, came up to me 122 00:08:34,830 --> 00:08:37,273 and said what about Pluto? 123 00:08:38,148 --> 00:08:39,873 I think we should go to Pluto. 124 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,770 After Voyager had this smashing success 125 00:08:45,770 --> 00:08:47,660 all the way across the solar system, 126 00:08:47,660 --> 00:08:51,730 the United States Postal Service issued a set of stamps 127 00:08:51,730 --> 00:08:54,797 and on each stamp they featured the spacecraft 128 00:08:54,797 --> 00:08:57,223 and mission that had been first to that planet. 129 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,230 But for Pluto, there had been no exploration 130 00:09:01,230 --> 00:09:03,593 so they had this lame stamp. 131 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,160 And that stamp became a dare 132 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:10,060 that we should finish this off. 133 00:09:10,060 --> 00:09:11,620 We should make this happen. 134 00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:15,183 We should change this stamp. 135 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:21,170 I knew there was a chance that in my lifetime, 136 00:09:21,170 --> 00:09:26,170 in my career, we could send a space probe off to Pluto. 137 00:09:27,130 --> 00:09:29,050 What we didn't know is we were embarking 138 00:09:29,050 --> 00:09:32,023 on an adventure that would last most of our careers. 139 00:09:34,587 --> 00:09:37,960 (romantic orchestral music) 140 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,560 This path to Pluto all began with Clyde Tombaugh. 141 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,460 Clyde Tombaugh was an amazing person. 142 00:09:44,460 --> 00:09:45,980 United States was in the grip 143 00:09:45,980 --> 00:09:47,870 of a paralyzing depression. 144 00:09:47,870 --> 00:09:50,763 Millions were unemployed, on some form of relief. 145 00:09:51,970 --> 00:09:56,030 He grew up very poor on a farm in Kansas 146 00:09:56,030 --> 00:09:59,050 during the Depression and as a young kid, 147 00:09:59,050 --> 00:10:00,700 became enthralled with astronomy 148 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:02,973 and was self taught from the local library. 149 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:07,780 In 1928, the young farmer built a telescope 150 00:10:07,780 --> 00:10:10,420 using the crank shafts of an old Buick 151 00:10:10,420 --> 00:10:13,150 and pieces of farm equipment. 152 00:10:13,150 --> 00:10:14,700 He dreamed of being an astronomer 153 00:10:14,700 --> 00:10:18,799 but had no plan, no idea how this poor kid 154 00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:22,743 in Depression Era Kansas could ever get off the farm. 155 00:10:25,070 --> 00:10:27,330 Well, I was interested in knowledge 156 00:10:27,330 --> 00:10:29,900 and so, of course I was fascinated with 157 00:10:29,900 --> 00:10:31,000 what I saw in the sky. 158 00:10:32,690 --> 00:10:34,380 (peaceful music) 159 00:10:34,380 --> 00:10:37,173 And so I made drawings of Mars and Jupiter. 160 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:41,670 Tombaugh sent his drawings off 161 00:10:41,670 --> 00:10:44,210 to the Lowell Observatory in Arizona 162 00:10:44,210 --> 00:10:46,080 who was so impressed by his work 163 00:10:47,340 --> 00:10:48,903 that they offered him a job. 164 00:10:50,890 --> 00:10:53,790 The job was to go off to search for the planet 165 00:10:53,790 --> 00:10:54,793 out beyond Neptune. 166 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,810 For decades, there'd been a theory 167 00:10:58,810 --> 00:11:02,403 about a hidden planet out beyond Neptune. 168 00:11:04,460 --> 00:11:08,040 Percival Lowell, a wealthy businessman and astronomer 169 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,220 had become obsessed with the theory 170 00:11:10,220 --> 00:11:12,950 and spent the latter part of his life searching 171 00:11:12,950 --> 00:11:17,039 for the mysterious planet but never found it. 172 00:11:17,039 --> 00:11:20,260 After his death in 1916, the Lowell Observatory 173 00:11:20,260 --> 00:11:22,987 that he founded continued the search. 174 00:11:25,860 --> 00:11:27,860 They had been tryin' early years to find it 175 00:11:27,860 --> 00:11:29,640 but without any success 176 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,390 and they weren't doin' too thorough a job of it either. 177 00:11:36,130 --> 00:11:40,060 You have to have a very strong mental concentration, 178 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:42,450 otherwise, you can't let your mind wander. 179 00:11:42,450 --> 00:11:45,270 You've got to be conscious of seein' every star 180 00:11:45,270 --> 00:11:46,503 and see if it shifts. 181 00:11:47,590 --> 00:11:49,003 And that's very demanding. 182 00:11:54,790 --> 00:11:57,140 It was a difficult, painstaking task 183 00:11:57,140 --> 00:11:59,290 with little chance of success. 184 00:11:59,290 --> 00:12:02,510 Tombaugh used the telescope to photograph a tiny patch 185 00:12:02,510 --> 00:12:04,820 of sky onto glass plates. 186 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:07,550 He studied these images on a special machine 187 00:12:07,550 --> 00:12:10,140 in the hope that he would spot the mysterious planet 188 00:12:10,140 --> 00:12:11,880 as it moved. 189 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:15,780 But, after searching for nearly a year, he'd found nothing. 190 00:12:22,940 --> 00:12:24,940 Lotta people told him it was futile 191 00:12:24,940 --> 00:12:26,140 and that they would never find it, 192 00:12:26,140 --> 00:12:27,440 people had already looked. 193 00:12:29,350 --> 00:12:31,113 But he was incredibly fastidious. 194 00:12:36,940 --> 00:12:39,830 Then, on February 18th, 1930, 195 00:12:39,830 --> 00:12:42,730 while comparing two photographic plates taken 196 00:12:42,730 --> 00:12:45,400 in late January, six days apart, 197 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,180 he noticed a moving object. 198 00:12:48,180 --> 00:12:49,963 He checked it again. 199 00:12:55,780 --> 00:12:58,453 He photographed the patch of sky a third time. 200 00:12:59,350 --> 00:13:01,720 That's when he realized he had found 201 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,303 a ninth planet beyond Neptune. 202 00:13:08,773 --> 00:13:10,867 And then they announced it to the world. 203 00:13:15,156 --> 00:13:18,950 Well, I think I decided to let the younger men do it now 204 00:13:18,950 --> 00:13:23,143 but I feel quite satisfied with what I did in my lifetime. 205 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,380 Clyde passed away in 1997 and he said, 206 00:13:31,380 --> 00:13:34,010 if a mission to Pluto ever got launched 207 00:13:34,010 --> 00:13:36,650 and there was a way for his ashes 208 00:13:36,650 --> 00:13:38,810 to be flown in the spacecraft, 209 00:13:38,810 --> 00:13:40,823 he would really like that to happen. 210 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,560 There's lots of interesting things we can do. 211 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:49,260 Perhaps the most important thing is to look at what Voyager 212 00:13:49,260 --> 00:13:51,230 did not do. 213 00:13:51,230 --> 00:13:53,940 It did not visit Pluto. 214 00:13:53,940 --> 00:13:56,620 When we were campaigning for this mission to Pluto, 215 00:13:56,620 --> 00:14:00,390 it was a big establishment, the Voyager types, 216 00:14:00,390 --> 00:14:03,350 the Cassini types, the Galileo types 217 00:14:03,350 --> 00:14:05,950 who were pushing for those really big missions. 218 00:14:05,950 --> 00:14:08,010 What we wanted was a lot smaller. 219 00:14:08,010 --> 00:14:11,040 Just to fly out, take a few pictures of Pluto. 220 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:12,690 However, there's a political problem 221 00:14:12,690 --> 00:14:17,690 of trying to sell a mission that will have a 14 year cruise 222 00:14:18,420 --> 00:14:21,340 will not return information for 14 years 223 00:14:21,340 --> 00:14:22,400 and when it does, 224 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,400 it'll be a half hour flyby with a handful of pictures. 225 00:14:28,830 --> 00:14:31,300 You're not going to have 11 instruments. 226 00:14:31,300 --> 00:14:35,300 You're not gonna have the data taking capability of Voyager. 227 00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:38,657 But remember those nine pictures of Triton. 228 00:14:38,657 --> 00:14:41,657 (suspenseful music) 229 00:14:44,380 --> 00:14:48,930 We have to cut back our scientific desires to have more 230 00:14:48,930 --> 00:14:52,020 and just send it out and take those pictures. 231 00:14:52,020 --> 00:14:53,930 It was really a group of young scientists 232 00:14:53,930 --> 00:14:57,810 who wanted to ask NASA why aren't we going to the last 233 00:14:57,810 --> 00:14:58,777 of the planets. 234 00:14:58,777 --> 00:15:01,300 And so it was a bit of an underground movement 235 00:15:01,300 --> 00:15:04,663 of people who were pushing for this underdog, Pluto. 236 00:15:06,020 --> 00:15:08,483 So we called ourselves the Pluto Underground. 237 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,330 Our first objective as the Pluto Underground 238 00:15:15,330 --> 00:15:19,280 was to have NASA do a study of how you go about flying 239 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:21,750 a mission to explore Pluto. 240 00:15:21,750 --> 00:15:24,837 In May of 1989, I went to the top 241 00:15:24,837 --> 00:15:27,390 of the NASA Planetary Exploration Program 242 00:15:27,390 --> 00:15:31,040 to a man named Jeff Briggs and just straight our asked him, 243 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,310 how 'bout a study of how to go explore 244 00:15:34,310 --> 00:15:36,240 the last of the planets. 245 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,650 And to my complete surprise, he smiled 246 00:15:38,650 --> 00:15:40,870 and said, you know, that's a brilliant idea. 247 00:15:40,870 --> 00:15:43,310 No one has ever asked me that before. 248 00:15:43,310 --> 00:15:44,660 I think we should study it. 249 00:15:47,310 --> 00:15:49,520 A study was just the first step 250 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,210 on a very long road to making a mission happen. 251 00:15:53,210 --> 00:15:55,820 The Pluto Underground had to research the idea 252 00:15:55,820 --> 00:15:57,610 and devise a plan that showed 253 00:15:57,610 --> 00:15:59,653 how a mission would actually work. 254 00:16:01,950 --> 00:16:03,417 It's exciting to Mark and I 255 00:16:03,417 --> 00:16:06,230 and to our whole scientific team to be able 256 00:16:06,230 --> 00:16:08,800 to see this object that no humans really 257 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,793 could glimpse as a real planet. 258 00:16:12,380 --> 00:16:16,500 We had no idea how complicated 259 00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:18,760 the political process would be. 260 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,220 We would walk in to one of these meetings 261 00:16:21,220 --> 00:16:22,880 and the NASA representative would say, 262 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,340 okay, this is the mission you're gonna get. 263 00:16:26,340 --> 00:16:31,280 And our job was to justify that mission concept 264 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:35,940 and most of 'em were absolutely crazy schemes. 265 00:16:35,940 --> 00:16:36,940 Let's do a small mission. 266 00:16:36,940 --> 00:16:38,580 Let's do a grandiose mission. 267 00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:39,800 Let's do a cheap mission. 268 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,067 Let's fly two. 269 00:16:41,067 --> 00:16:42,540 No, we don't wanna do that. 270 00:16:42,540 --> 00:16:46,290 But if we say no, then we're done. 271 00:16:46,290 --> 00:16:49,260 Every year, something came up that prevented us, 272 00:16:49,260 --> 00:16:51,690 that blocked us, that we had to find a way around. 273 00:16:51,690 --> 00:16:54,090 We were close but then we were set back. 274 00:16:54,090 --> 00:16:56,980 We were even closer than we were set back. 275 00:16:56,980 --> 00:16:59,270 And what made it even more difficult 276 00:16:59,270 --> 00:17:01,430 was the feedback that we would get 277 00:17:01,430 --> 00:17:04,300 that you guys really should let go of this. 278 00:17:04,300 --> 00:17:07,163 There must be other things that you're interested in doing. 279 00:17:08,490 --> 00:17:11,073 (upbeat music) 280 00:17:19,510 --> 00:17:21,170 I met Dave as a graduate student 281 00:17:21,170 --> 00:17:25,270 and he was a professor and I needed a project to work on. 282 00:17:25,270 --> 00:17:26,980 And she came to me one day and said, 283 00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:29,150 you know, Dave, the thing I'm working on 284 00:17:29,150 --> 00:17:30,433 is not going that well. 285 00:17:30,433 --> 00:17:31,780 Have you got any ideas? 286 00:17:31,780 --> 00:17:33,700 And I said, yeah, I've been thinkin' about searching 287 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:35,090 for things beyond Saturn. 288 00:17:35,090 --> 00:17:36,890 And she said, okay, that'll be cool. 289 00:17:38,330 --> 00:17:39,163 Dave pointed out 290 00:17:39,163 --> 00:17:41,660 that the outer solar system seemed rather empty 291 00:17:41,660 --> 00:17:43,910 compared to the inner solar system. 292 00:17:43,910 --> 00:17:46,550 Inside Saturn, inside Jupiter we knew 293 00:17:46,550 --> 00:17:50,139 of lots of asteroids and comets and all the planets 294 00:17:50,139 --> 00:17:52,570 and then beyond Saturn, nothing much is there. 295 00:17:52,570 --> 00:17:53,993 Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. 296 00:17:55,290 --> 00:17:57,720 So he proposed that maybe we should look 297 00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:58,620 in the outer solar system 298 00:17:58,620 --> 00:18:00,520 to see if there were things out there. 299 00:18:01,970 --> 00:18:05,050 Dave and Jane used the Mauna Kea Observatory 300 00:18:05,050 --> 00:18:06,313 here in Hawaii. 301 00:18:07,710 --> 00:18:10,050 Mauna Kea's 14,000 feet high. 302 00:18:10,050 --> 00:18:11,630 It's above most of the clouds. 303 00:18:11,630 --> 00:18:13,170 It's above most of the water vapor 304 00:18:13,170 --> 00:18:14,980 in the atmosphere. 305 00:18:14,980 --> 00:18:17,770 It's the second best place to put a telescope. 306 00:18:17,770 --> 00:18:19,220 First best would be in space. 307 00:18:23,050 --> 00:18:26,510 The telescope are on the peak, 4,000 meters, 308 00:18:26,510 --> 00:18:29,756 it's miserable there because at that level, 309 00:18:29,756 --> 00:18:32,060 the amount of oxygen that you get 310 00:18:32,060 --> 00:18:34,540 is only about 60% of what you get at sea level. 311 00:18:34,540 --> 00:18:36,423 So you don't have enough air to breathe. 312 00:18:38,700 --> 00:18:41,150 The altitude gives me a headache every time. 313 00:18:41,150 --> 00:18:42,940 Sometimes you would get a nosebleed. 314 00:18:42,940 --> 00:18:45,610 Once Jane Luu collapsed from the altitude. 315 00:18:45,610 --> 00:18:48,423 We never found out why but she simply couldn't stand up. 316 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:50,977 It's painful to work on Mauna Kea 317 00:18:50,977 --> 00:18:52,890 but we put up with it because we understand 318 00:18:52,890 --> 00:18:55,343 that this is the best place to make observations. 319 00:19:09,870 --> 00:19:12,580 Everybody wondered where the cutoff point was. 320 00:19:12,580 --> 00:19:15,900 So many people would say when are you going to stop. 321 00:19:15,900 --> 00:19:18,350 We were looking for things that were not predicted 322 00:19:18,350 --> 00:19:19,933 to exist by any theory. 323 00:19:20,940 --> 00:19:23,070 So we take a series of pictures. 324 00:19:23,070 --> 00:19:25,223 Four pictures, one after the other. 325 00:19:26,460 --> 00:19:27,830 And the stars and the galaxies 326 00:19:27,830 --> 00:19:31,170 which were basically infinitely far away don't move. 327 00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:32,890 But anything in the solar system moves 328 00:19:32,890 --> 00:19:34,200 'cause it's going around the sun 329 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,340 and the speed depends on is distance 330 00:19:36,340 --> 00:19:39,940 and we look for anything that is moving slowly 331 00:19:39,940 --> 00:19:42,920 with respect to the stars and the galaxies. 332 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,240 Every time we wanted to stop, 333 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,390 the technology would get better. 334 00:19:47,390 --> 00:19:49,730 And we knew the technology was improving 335 00:19:49,730 --> 00:19:54,446 because bigger cameras became available to us year by year. 336 00:19:54,446 --> 00:19:57,196 (peaceful music) 337 00:20:00,330 --> 00:20:03,550 At the end of August in 1992, 338 00:20:03,550 --> 00:20:05,931 we took the first picture and it came out 339 00:20:05,931 --> 00:20:08,640 then the second picture came out. 340 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,220 And I pretty much immediately saw this object 341 00:20:11,220 --> 00:20:12,600 that seemed to moved, 342 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:14,150 and it didn't move much. 343 00:20:14,150 --> 00:20:16,640 And I said to Jane, hey Jane, come and have a look at this 344 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:18,800 and she said, yeah, that looks good. 345 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:19,940 We were very excited because it 346 00:20:19,940 --> 00:20:22,253 was the first believable candidate. 347 00:20:23,210 --> 00:20:26,930 So the third picture came and the third picture showed 348 00:20:26,930 --> 00:20:29,370 that same object but a little bit further over 349 00:20:29,370 --> 00:20:30,950 and so we suddenly thought hey, 350 00:20:30,950 --> 00:20:33,580 that's probably the best thing we've ever seen. 351 00:20:33,580 --> 00:20:35,843 After doing thing for ages, for years. 352 00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:42,090 So the fourth image came out 353 00:20:42,090 --> 00:20:43,050 and it was just perfect. 354 00:20:43,050 --> 00:20:45,380 It was bang, bang, bang, bang. 355 00:20:45,380 --> 00:20:47,780 In a straight line going to the west 356 00:20:47,780 --> 00:20:50,130 and during the whole time, we were able to measure it 357 00:20:50,130 --> 00:20:53,123 and its speed was just a beautiful straight line. 358 00:20:55,620 --> 00:20:56,860 How could that possibly be real. 359 00:20:56,860 --> 00:20:58,030 Like, we've done this so much. 360 00:20:58,030 --> 00:21:00,080 And there's just so much rubbish that we get. 361 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,203 How could this possibly be real. 362 00:21:02,203 --> 00:21:04,190 (Jane laughing) 363 00:21:04,190 --> 00:21:05,850 So we just took picture after picture 364 00:21:05,850 --> 00:21:07,700 after picture after picture. 365 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:09,943 For the remaining six hours of the night. 366 00:21:10,887 --> 00:21:13,637 (dramatic music) 367 00:21:25,010 --> 00:21:26,340 Wow, this changes our view 368 00:21:26,340 --> 00:21:28,280 of the solar system fundamentally 369 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,270 that there's a whole new unexplored area out 370 00:21:31,270 --> 00:21:32,630 there of objects. 371 00:21:32,630 --> 00:21:35,750 It was really clear that this was a major breakthrough. 372 00:21:35,750 --> 00:21:39,520 There are 100,000 objects in the Kuiper belt 373 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,380 bigger than 60 miles across 374 00:21:42,380 --> 00:21:45,490 and there's a billion objects in the Kuiper belt bigger 375 00:21:45,490 --> 00:21:47,363 than about a mile across. 376 00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:51,130 Pluto was not just some weird fringe oddball 377 00:21:51,130 --> 00:21:52,970 by itself out in the outer fringes 378 00:21:52,970 --> 00:21:57,380 of the solar system but in fact was the largest member 379 00:21:57,380 --> 00:22:00,430 of this massive domain of objects 380 00:22:00,430 --> 00:22:02,935 that clearly is important 381 00:22:02,935 --> 00:22:05,853 in the story of how the solar system came to be. 382 00:22:10,917 --> 00:22:13,667 (peaceful music) 383 00:22:24,900 --> 00:22:27,220 The competition was really intense. 384 00:22:27,220 --> 00:22:30,668 Five teams formed and frankly, of the five, 385 00:22:30,668 --> 00:22:35,450 our team was the David in a David and Goliath battle. 386 00:22:35,450 --> 00:22:37,690 We had the least experience 387 00:22:37,690 --> 00:22:40,260 but probably the highest motivation. 388 00:22:40,260 --> 00:22:43,020 No humans really could glimpse as a real planet. 389 00:22:43,020 --> 00:22:45,484 One of the first things that we had to do 390 00:22:45,484 --> 00:22:48,120 was to find a name for it 391 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:51,460 and when I was on a long run across my hometown, 392 00:22:51,460 --> 00:22:53,260 Boulder, Colorado, and I turned around 393 00:22:53,260 --> 00:22:55,480 to the west and saw the Rocky Mountains 394 00:22:56,690 --> 00:23:00,943 and I thought this is a mission of New Horizons. 395 00:23:04,230 --> 00:23:07,193 And people liked it and that's what we adopted. 396 00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:15,060 We designed our mission as best we could. 397 00:23:15,060 --> 00:23:17,120 Not too much, but not too little. 398 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:18,243 Just get it right. 399 00:23:20,150 --> 00:23:23,850 These proposals are phone book thick engineering 400 00:23:23,850 --> 00:23:24,910 and technical documents. 401 00:23:24,910 --> 00:23:26,620 There's a lot of work that goes into 402 00:23:26,620 --> 00:23:28,120 putting one of these together. 403 00:23:33,690 --> 00:23:36,150 On November the 29th, 2001, 404 00:23:36,150 --> 00:23:39,880 after 300 days of competition, 405 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,320 I was at a planetary science meeting 406 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,090 and NASA scientist came to me 407 00:23:45,090 --> 00:23:47,523 and said there's a phone call for you. 408 00:23:51,250 --> 00:23:54,700 And I knew at that moment that that phone call 409 00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:57,890 was the decision. 410 00:23:57,890 --> 00:24:00,013 We would find out if we had won or lost. 411 00:24:01,860 --> 00:24:03,600 And I picked up the phone 412 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,330 and time telescoped, it slowed down for me incredibly 413 00:24:07,330 --> 00:24:10,600 and I knew that within moments, my life would change. 414 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:11,763 One way or the other. 415 00:24:14,650 --> 00:24:18,190 And fortunately the phone call was a good one 416 00:24:18,190 --> 00:24:20,410 and we found out we had won. 417 00:24:20,410 --> 00:24:23,160 (dramatic music) 418 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:26,820 It was such a huge relief. 419 00:24:26,820 --> 00:24:28,280 We were selected. 420 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,860 It was all systems to go to build the spacecraft 421 00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:31,960 and to make it happen. 422 00:24:33,030 --> 00:24:36,440 David had beat Goliath and we were actually going 423 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,678 to have an opportunity to do something 424 00:24:38,678 --> 00:24:42,163 that had been our ambition for 14 years. 425 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:47,860 Then they actually have to built it 426 00:24:47,860 --> 00:24:48,960 and make it succeed. 427 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:50,986 And they're on a ticking clock. 428 00:24:50,986 --> 00:24:53,903 (machine rumbling) 429 00:24:54,750 --> 00:24:56,320 All of the challenges associated 430 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,440 with building a spacecraft that was small enough, 431 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,660 used little enough power that we could perform 432 00:25:02,660 --> 00:25:04,830 when the light levels are so low. 433 00:25:04,830 --> 00:25:07,143 It was just technically very challenging. 434 00:25:09,700 --> 00:25:12,272 Well, you know, the key to planetary science is 435 00:25:12,272 --> 00:25:15,200 that you really have to go places to get the resolution 436 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,720 to get up close enough to really see what's going on. 437 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:19,523 We wanna get up close and personal. 438 00:25:35,423 --> 00:25:37,360 I was so excited when I had the opportunity 439 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:38,700 to join this mission. 440 00:25:38,700 --> 00:25:40,010 I had been studying Pluto 441 00:25:40,010 --> 00:25:42,640 for years using ground based telescopes, 442 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,163 trying to understand what was going on in 443 00:25:45,163 --> 00:25:47,900 this fuzzy point of light. 444 00:25:47,900 --> 00:25:50,580 The Hubble Telescope produced the first image 445 00:25:50,580 --> 00:25:52,400 that illuminated Pluto. 446 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,560 This image was made up of just eight pixels. 447 00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:00,560 One pixels per 390 square kilometers of Pluto's surface. 448 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,000 And to be able to have a part in the New Horizons mission 449 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,650 where we got to turn Pluto from a point of light 450 00:26:06,650 --> 00:26:10,723 into a world where we're mapping the surface is amazing. 451 00:26:20,130 --> 00:26:21,893 We were ready for launch. 452 00:26:30,141 --> 00:26:34,474 We had the spacecraft on top of the rocket. 453 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,609 The New Horizons spacecraft is a small spacecraft 454 00:26:44,609 --> 00:26:46,090 and then we put it on the biggest rocket 455 00:26:46,090 --> 00:26:48,520 that we had available from NASA at the time, 456 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:49,353 the Atlas V. 457 00:26:58,370 --> 00:27:02,880 They put a stamp on there from the U.S. Postal Service 458 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,297 that says "Pluto, not yet explored". 459 00:27:07,210 --> 00:27:10,910 In addition to a small vial of ashes 460 00:27:10,910 --> 00:27:13,233 from the remains of Clyde Tombaugh. 461 00:27:16,383 --> 00:27:19,240 It was my honor to be able to bring it back 462 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:23,093 to his efforts to actually find the planet. 463 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:34,110 We had a number of days 464 00:27:34,110 --> 00:27:37,080 where everything's lining up and then somewhere 465 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,683 along the way, somebody said no, can't go. 466 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:43,747 That got to be the pattern. 467 00:27:43,747 --> 00:27:48,362 11, 10, nine, eight, seven, 468 00:27:48,362 --> 00:27:49,195 six, five. 469 00:27:49,195 --> 00:27:50,120 I remember on that one day, 470 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:52,870 the clock's counting down and it's getting lower 471 00:27:52,870 --> 00:27:54,300 and lower and they're not stopping 472 00:27:54,300 --> 00:27:55,833 and I said wow if they don't stop this, 473 00:27:55,833 --> 00:27:59,078 it's actually, they're gonna have to send it off. 474 00:27:59,078 --> 00:28:03,237 Six, five, four, three, two, one. 475 00:28:05,816 --> 00:28:07,108 We have ignition. 476 00:28:07,108 --> 00:28:09,513 (woman cheering) 477 00:28:09,513 --> 00:28:12,346 (uplifting music) 478 00:28:28,670 --> 00:28:31,420 And sure enough that thing took off 479 00:28:31,420 --> 00:28:33,233 like nobody's business. 480 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,363 We had a picture perfect launch. 481 00:28:41,940 --> 00:28:44,170 At 11:00 p.m. I was out on the balcony 482 00:28:44,170 --> 00:28:46,720 of the hotel where I was staying in Cape Canaveral. 483 00:28:49,490 --> 00:28:51,660 Just looking up and seeing the beautiful bright moon 484 00:28:51,660 --> 00:28:54,060 and the spacecraft was passing, you know, 485 00:28:54,060 --> 00:28:56,410 at the orbit of the moon at that time already. 486 00:28:56,410 --> 00:28:58,570 I mean, usually, it took the Apollo astronauts three days 487 00:28:58,570 --> 00:28:59,630 to get there. 488 00:28:59,630 --> 00:29:02,803 So we knew we were speeding on to our destination. 489 00:29:19,790 --> 00:29:21,030 Flying past Jupiter allowed us 490 00:29:21,030 --> 00:29:22,753 to check out our instruments. 491 00:29:44,370 --> 00:29:47,201 New Horizons flew by Jupiter and took advantage 492 00:29:47,201 --> 00:29:51,073 of a particular trick called a gravity assist. 493 00:29:52,670 --> 00:29:55,100 So if you imagine Jupiter moving along 494 00:29:55,100 --> 00:29:57,310 and New Horizons is catching up to it 495 00:29:57,310 --> 00:30:00,450 and Jupiter pulls it forward 496 00:30:00,450 --> 00:30:04,530 and then bends the orbit and as they keep goin', 497 00:30:04,530 --> 00:30:08,640 that interchange will add a little bit more velocity 498 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,263 to the speed of New Horizons. 499 00:30:13,220 --> 00:30:15,615 Spacecraft is outward bound from Jupiter 500 00:30:15,615 --> 00:30:17,945 and we're on our way to Pluto. 501 00:30:17,945 --> 00:30:18,897 All right. 502 00:30:18,897 --> 00:30:19,730 (people clapping) 503 00:30:19,730 --> 00:30:21,650 We shaved a couple of years off the flight time 504 00:30:21,650 --> 00:30:23,350 but it was still a very long haul. 505 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,810 It was another eight years from there to Pluto. 506 00:30:30,810 --> 00:30:34,460 So they pioneered this technique of hibernation 507 00:30:34,460 --> 00:30:36,790 where you put the spacecraft to sleep first 508 00:30:36,790 --> 00:30:38,350 for a day and then for a week 509 00:30:38,350 --> 00:30:39,593 and then for weeks. 510 00:30:43,860 --> 00:30:45,690 Which makes a lot of sense because if you think 511 00:30:45,690 --> 00:30:46,523 of the wear and tear 512 00:30:46,523 --> 00:30:49,590 on all the components, it's more likely to be working 513 00:30:49,590 --> 00:30:52,140 after nine years if it's been off most of the time. 514 00:30:55,380 --> 00:30:57,893 And it's just sending back a beacon, a beep. 515 00:30:59,971 --> 00:31:02,888 (spacecraft beeps) 516 00:31:12,175 --> 00:31:14,444 (upbeat music) 517 00:31:14,444 --> 00:31:16,370 Pluto is a planet. 518 00:31:16,370 --> 00:31:17,760 Pluto is a planet. 519 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,230 I wanna know that if it really is a planet 520 00:31:20,230 --> 00:31:24,090 or if it's just something else in space. 521 00:31:24,090 --> 00:31:28,640 There is this issue about what a planet should 522 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,963 or shouldn't be and whether Pluto was one. 523 00:31:32,670 --> 00:31:34,670 I don't think it's a planet, I really don't. 524 00:31:34,670 --> 00:31:37,350 There's a bunch of objects like that out there 525 00:31:37,350 --> 00:31:39,600 so how did that get to be a planet, you know? 526 00:31:40,970 --> 00:31:43,470 Didn't seen right to call Pluto a planet 527 00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:47,150 when there were like thousands of other objects like it. 528 00:31:47,150 --> 00:31:49,759 It's a big Kuiper belt object 529 00:31:49,759 --> 00:31:51,150 but it's a Kuiper belt object, 530 00:31:51,150 --> 00:31:52,330 there's no doubt about that. 531 00:31:52,330 --> 00:31:54,563 And so the astronomers had a vote. 532 00:31:56,055 --> 00:31:58,180 A vote is ludicrous in itself. 533 00:31:58,180 --> 00:32:00,660 They had a vote on whether Pluto 534 00:32:00,660 --> 00:32:03,950 was a planet and the idea of voting in science, 535 00:32:03,950 --> 00:32:05,720 it just crazy. 536 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,573 Since when do we vote about scientific fact? 537 00:32:17,630 --> 00:32:22,610 In the scientific community, most planetary scientists 538 00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:23,843 simply ignore it. 539 00:32:25,250 --> 00:32:26,880 To me, it wasn't a big deal. 540 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:28,420 I knew Pluto was an amazing place 541 00:32:28,420 --> 00:32:29,630 and I couldn't wait to see it 542 00:32:29,630 --> 00:32:31,893 and what we called it was pretty secondary. 543 00:32:33,380 --> 00:32:37,023 Dwarf people are people, dwarf planets are planets. 544 00:32:41,870 --> 00:32:43,840 Because it's a flyby mission, 545 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,350 we knew we were gonna get a really good shot 546 00:32:47,350 --> 00:32:49,970 at one half of Pluto. 547 00:32:49,970 --> 00:32:53,723 The other half we would see it but it would be blurry. 548 00:32:55,730 --> 00:32:58,660 One of the projects I worked on was 549 00:32:58,660 --> 00:33:02,133 to take images with the Hubble Space Telescope. 550 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,470 And figured out a map 551 00:33:07,940 --> 00:33:11,120 but Pluto was so far away and so tiny 552 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,830 that even with Hubble, it's very, very difficult 553 00:33:13,830 --> 00:33:15,693 to get any information. 554 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,140 It took about six or seven years worth 555 00:33:20,140 --> 00:33:23,283 of computer processing to get the maps up. 556 00:33:26,550 --> 00:33:29,680 I think this map is probably the best, 557 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,880 the best map we're gonna get prior 558 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,480 to the spacecraft getting there. 559 00:33:34,540 --> 00:33:36,553 I said here's the deal. 560 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,840 I can tell ya right now where you need to go. 561 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:44,180 There's one patch of Pluto that's the brightest part 562 00:33:44,180 --> 00:33:45,410 of the body. 563 00:33:45,410 --> 00:33:48,310 Right next to it is one of the darkest areas 564 00:33:48,310 --> 00:33:49,833 on the entire surface. 565 00:33:50,700 --> 00:33:53,460 You're gonna see the darkest stuff, 566 00:33:53,460 --> 00:33:54,890 you're gonna see the brightest stuff 567 00:33:54,890 --> 00:33:57,420 and you're gonna see the contact in between 568 00:33:57,420 --> 00:34:00,903 and then all the northern polar areas. 569 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,180 On July the fourth, 2015, 570 00:34:09,180 --> 00:34:12,160 New Horizons had been journeying towards Pluto 571 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,410 for over nine years. 572 00:34:14,410 --> 00:34:18,200 It was now just 10 days from reaching the planet. 573 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,900 As the country celebrated Independence Day, 574 00:34:20,900 --> 00:34:23,640 Alice Bowman, the mission operation manager 575 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,290 was in mission control, 576 00:34:25,290 --> 00:34:28,680 preparing to upload the main flyby sequence 577 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,983 that would direct New Horizons towards Pluto. 578 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,910 There are a number of gates that we go through 579 00:34:35,910 --> 00:34:38,530 when we establish communications with the spacecraft. 580 00:34:38,530 --> 00:34:40,780 You know, you see the first gate locked. 581 00:34:40,780 --> 00:34:42,120 The second gate locked. 582 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:43,370 The third gate locked 583 00:34:43,370 --> 00:34:45,513 and that's when you get your telemetry. 584 00:34:46,870 --> 00:34:49,436 But at 1:54 in the afternoon, 585 00:34:49,436 --> 00:34:52,960 their worst fears came true. 586 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:54,470 We went out of lock. 587 00:34:54,470 --> 00:34:56,200 The next one went out of lock 588 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,363 and then we lost the last one out of lock. 589 00:35:00,210 --> 00:35:02,007 I got a phone call from our project manager, 590 00:35:02,007 --> 00:35:07,007 saying something I almost couldn't process the words for. 591 00:35:07,310 --> 00:35:10,333 He said to me, Alan, we've lost contact with the spacecraft. 592 00:35:12,770 --> 00:35:15,070 I had people that were very upset 593 00:35:15,070 --> 00:35:17,870 that I needed to calm down and have them focus 594 00:35:17,870 --> 00:35:20,490 'cause I needed their expertise. 595 00:35:20,490 --> 00:35:22,070 Just over an hour later 596 00:35:22,070 --> 00:35:24,660 at 11 minutes past three in the afternoon, 597 00:35:24,660 --> 00:35:28,630 the team reestablished communication with New Horizons. 598 00:35:28,630 --> 00:35:30,863 But the problems were far from over. 599 00:35:32,500 --> 00:35:34,300 The spacecraft reports on its status 600 00:35:34,300 --> 00:35:35,823 and it was bad news. 601 00:35:38,770 --> 00:35:41,870 The spacecraft had overloaded a computer memory 602 00:35:41,870 --> 00:35:43,630 and rebooted itself 603 00:35:43,630 --> 00:35:46,990 while this uplink was happening of core commands 604 00:35:46,990 --> 00:35:48,360 for the encounter sequence 605 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:50,523 and all of that software was lost. 606 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,160 The team had just three days 607 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,070 to rewrite the flyby sequence and upload it 608 00:35:58,070 --> 00:35:59,460 to the spacecraft. 609 00:35:59,460 --> 00:36:02,683 Otherwise New Horizons would miss Pluto. 610 00:36:04,190 --> 00:36:05,530 This is the fourth of July 611 00:36:05,530 --> 00:36:07,540 and everybody was takin' the holiday off. 612 00:36:07,540 --> 00:36:10,344 So people start showing up there in mission control 613 00:36:10,344 --> 00:36:13,283 in their bathing suits and flip flops. 614 00:36:15,210 --> 00:36:19,730 We knew that if we could not fix this problem 615 00:36:19,730 --> 00:36:21,890 that everything we had invested 616 00:36:21,890 --> 00:36:26,430 in the previous 26 years, all of that, was for nothing 617 00:36:26,430 --> 00:36:28,030 unless we could fix the problem. 618 00:36:30,340 --> 00:36:33,740 So, it was necessary to reboot the computer 619 00:36:33,740 --> 00:36:36,410 and then start rewriting some of that software 620 00:36:36,410 --> 00:36:37,980 and finding the right files 621 00:36:37,980 --> 00:36:41,423 and reloading those core sequences. 622 00:36:43,170 --> 00:36:45,343 But that process took time. 623 00:36:48,776 --> 00:36:52,095 It takes nine hours just to say hey are you okay? 624 00:36:52,095 --> 00:36:54,670 (suspenseful music) 625 00:36:54,670 --> 00:36:55,630 You know, nine hours later, 626 00:36:55,630 --> 00:36:58,563 the spacecraft goes yeah, I'm here, what should I do. 627 00:36:59,633 --> 00:37:02,143 Well all felt that sense of a ticking clock. 628 00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:04,710 People were sleeping on desks, 629 00:37:04,710 --> 00:37:06,190 people were sleeping on the floor 630 00:37:06,190 --> 00:37:08,083 and eating out of candy machines. 631 00:37:12,430 --> 00:37:14,250 This is our mission. 632 00:37:14,250 --> 00:37:17,310 We have flown nine and a half years 633 00:37:17,310 --> 00:37:20,430 and none of us were going to give up. 634 00:37:20,430 --> 00:37:21,263 None of us. 635 00:37:23,930 --> 00:37:26,080 After three grueling days, 636 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,320 the team waited for New Horizons to respond 637 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,823 and find out if they'd saved the mission. 638 00:37:34,236 --> 00:37:36,903 (woman mumbles) 639 00:37:44,100 --> 00:37:46,670 We saw that the spacecraft had transitioned 640 00:37:46,670 --> 00:37:49,810 into that mode to accomplish the flyby 641 00:37:49,810 --> 00:37:52,210 and it was pretty amazing. 642 00:37:52,210 --> 00:37:56,630 Our team rose to that occasion with no preparation 643 00:37:56,630 --> 00:37:57,653 and saved the day. 644 00:38:00,130 --> 00:38:02,670 With the flyby sequence initiated, 645 00:38:02,670 --> 00:38:05,303 New Horizons turned towards Pluto. 646 00:38:12,530 --> 00:38:15,500 When people ask me what my favorite picture is 647 00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:19,110 of the Pluto system, it's that blurry picture, 648 00:38:19,110 --> 00:38:22,350 the first one that comes down on July seventh. 649 00:38:22,350 --> 00:38:25,730 That's a representation of what we had accomplished 650 00:38:25,730 --> 00:38:28,763 and what we were going to accomplish. 651 00:38:30,150 --> 00:38:33,100 It's one of those moments that you will never forget 652 00:38:33,100 --> 00:38:35,383 in your whole life. 653 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,910 I had been working my entire career, 654 00:38:42,910 --> 00:38:45,717 leading up to this moment of time. 655 00:38:45,717 --> 00:38:49,550 Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, 656 00:38:50,995 --> 00:38:52,328 three, two, one! 657 00:38:53,966 --> 00:38:56,160 (people cheering) 658 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,760 On July 14th, 2015, 659 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:00,580 New Horizons signaled to Earth 660 00:39:00,580 --> 00:39:03,233 that it had successfully flown by Pluto. 661 00:39:04,230 --> 00:39:07,070 But the team had to wait nine more hours 662 00:39:07,070 --> 00:39:10,140 due to the vast distance between Earth and Pluto 663 00:39:10,140 --> 00:39:12,380 to find out if they'd achieved their goal 664 00:39:12,380 --> 00:39:14,813 of photographing this far off world. 665 00:39:20,625 --> 00:39:23,542 (melancholy music) 666 00:39:33,740 --> 00:39:38,670 So there we were at Johns Hopkins applied physics lab 667 00:39:38,670 --> 00:39:42,050 with all the press and the family and friends 668 00:39:42,050 --> 00:39:44,612 and a whole bunch of people who were just dying to know 669 00:39:44,612 --> 00:39:46,990 what Pluto's like. 670 00:39:46,990 --> 00:39:48,730 When we finally get that image down 671 00:39:48,730 --> 00:39:53,730 and we displayed it on the monitor, it was unbelievable. 672 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:09,713 (people clapping) 673 00:40:13,060 --> 00:40:18,060 The whole team was like aghast at this beautiful image. 674 00:40:19,414 --> 00:40:22,247 (people cheering) 675 00:40:25,259 --> 00:40:28,092 (uplifting music) 676 00:40:31,810 --> 00:40:34,350 In 1989, a small team 677 00:40:34,350 --> 00:40:36,690 of young scientists took it upon themselves 678 00:40:36,690 --> 00:40:39,450 to campaign for a mission to Pluto. 679 00:40:39,450 --> 00:40:42,250 We have to just send it out and take those pictures. 680 00:40:42,250 --> 00:40:43,760 To be able to see this object 681 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,063 that no humans really could glimpse. 682 00:40:47,855 --> 00:40:50,830 Over two and half decades later, 683 00:40:50,830 --> 00:40:52,660 they had achieved their goal 684 00:40:52,660 --> 00:40:55,130 and made one the most unique discoveries 685 00:40:55,130 --> 00:40:57,360 in the history of space travel. 686 00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,770 It was just extraordinary. 687 00:40:59,770 --> 00:41:02,313 This was a whole new world. 688 00:41:15,530 --> 00:41:18,300 Just as Voyager had revealed Neptune's moon, 689 00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:23,300 Triton, New Horizons images showed a world 690 00:41:23,963 --> 00:41:26,233 that was geologically active. 691 00:41:29,070 --> 00:41:31,923 We began to see all of these features. 692 00:41:34,430 --> 00:41:37,090 Mountains and ravines and glaciers 693 00:41:37,090 --> 00:41:40,438 and all sorts of indications of activity 694 00:41:40,438 --> 00:41:43,801 and physics taking place on the surface. 695 00:41:43,801 --> 00:41:45,830 It just blew us away. 696 00:41:45,830 --> 00:41:48,580 (peaceful music) 697 00:41:59,140 --> 00:42:00,480 Pluto has mountains. 698 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,910 But these aren't ordinary mountains. 699 00:42:02,910 --> 00:42:06,240 These are mountains of ice, water ice, 700 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:09,232 that are sticking up, the size of the Rockies. 701 00:42:09,232 --> 00:42:11,393 Huge, big mountains. 702 00:42:12,380 --> 00:42:15,220 And Pluto, as Alan is always saying, 703 00:42:15,220 --> 00:42:17,660 is the Everest of the solar system. 704 00:42:17,660 --> 00:42:20,665 The farthest and coldest and hardest to reach. 705 00:42:20,665 --> 00:42:24,433 And so these mountain ranges were named Norgay 706 00:42:24,433 --> 00:42:29,200 and Hillary after the original explorers of Everest. 707 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,180 Many of the features on Pluto were named 708 00:42:31,180 --> 00:42:34,373 after famous explorers and famous vessels of exploration. 709 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,671 As we were flying up to Pluto and imaging it, 710 00:42:48,671 --> 00:42:51,400 day after day and week after week on approach, 711 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:55,383 we could see this bright feature on the surface. 712 00:42:55,383 --> 00:42:58,133 (dramatic music) 713 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,218 One morning, we got an image back 714 00:43:03,218 --> 00:43:06,020 and as soon as it came up on the big screen, 715 00:43:06,020 --> 00:43:09,126 I remember a NASA official who said, 716 00:43:09,126 --> 00:43:11,393 do you see that looks like a heart? 717 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,480 And as we got closer and closer, 718 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,693 amazingly, it looked more and more like a heart. 719 00:43:21,940 --> 00:43:25,730 I think that's what emblazoned Pluto into the public mind 720 00:43:25,730 --> 00:43:28,080 as this amazing place at the frontier 721 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:29,670 of our solar system. 722 00:43:29,670 --> 00:43:33,950 Pluto's heart measures 1,600 kilometers across 723 00:43:33,950 --> 00:43:36,653 and is composed of nitrogen ice. 724 00:43:37,530 --> 00:43:42,140 We believe that structure might be supported by water 725 00:43:42,140 --> 00:43:43,423 underneath the surface. 726 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,963 There could be an ocean underneath Pluto's surface. 727 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,370 There probably is some kind of liquid water ocean. 728 00:43:54,370 --> 00:43:57,690 It's very deep down inside but we think 729 00:43:57,690 --> 00:44:00,268 there's a pretty good chance that it's there. 730 00:44:00,268 --> 00:44:03,410 It's one of those things where if you find water, 731 00:44:03,410 --> 00:44:04,900 is there a chance for life? 732 00:44:04,900 --> 00:44:07,350 Wouldn't that be cool if Pluto's actually one 733 00:44:07,350 --> 00:44:10,460 of those places in the solar system that has 734 00:44:10,460 --> 00:44:13,630 or had life on it, even out at the outer reaches 735 00:44:13,630 --> 00:44:14,693 of the solar system. 736 00:44:15,570 --> 00:44:18,137 That's just mind blowing right there. 737 00:44:18,137 --> 00:44:20,887 (dramatic music) 738 00:44:25,930 --> 00:44:28,520 (peaceful music) 739 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:31,560 When we flew behind and we looked at the sun 740 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:33,423 go behind Pluto, 741 00:44:38,140 --> 00:44:42,200 we saw this big ring of blue sky, 742 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:43,793 a haze in the upper atmosphere. 743 00:44:50,100 --> 00:44:52,170 New Horizons continued further 744 00:44:52,170 --> 00:44:53,833 into the Kuiper belt. 745 00:44:59,460 --> 00:45:01,770 And three and a half year later 746 00:45:01,770 --> 00:45:04,200 on New Years' Day 2019, 747 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,190 it reached a small Kuiper belt object 748 00:45:07,190 --> 00:45:09,103 officially named Arrokoth. 749 00:45:14,710 --> 00:45:16,470 With the spacecraft now a billion miles 750 00:45:16,470 --> 00:45:17,690 farther out than Pluto, 751 00:45:17,690 --> 00:45:22,630 here was this fantastically complex object. 752 00:45:22,630 --> 00:45:26,550 It's in a very special category of objects 753 00:45:26,550 --> 00:45:29,120 out in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. 754 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,950 These are objects we call the cold classical objects. 755 00:45:31,950 --> 00:45:35,140 These are objects that are in very flat, circular orbits 756 00:45:35,140 --> 00:45:39,910 that are all traveling around the sun pretty much parallel 757 00:45:39,910 --> 00:45:42,940 to each other, they very rarely run into each other. 758 00:45:42,940 --> 00:45:45,430 And they clearly have been in these orbits 759 00:45:45,430 --> 00:45:47,790 since the formation of the solar system. 760 00:45:47,790 --> 00:45:50,943 That's the only way they can have such undisturbed orbit. 761 00:45:52,870 --> 00:45:55,620 These are the building blocks of solar system formation. 762 00:45:55,620 --> 00:45:57,870 They're the things that didn't get accreted 763 00:45:57,870 --> 00:46:00,490 into the giant planets and the terrestrial planets 764 00:46:00,490 --> 00:46:02,750 so they're the leftovers out in the deep freeze 765 00:46:02,750 --> 00:46:03,913 of our solar system. 766 00:46:05,742 --> 00:46:09,040 (peaceful music) 767 00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:10,920 The images reveal that Arrakoth 768 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:13,893 is made up of two objects that are joined together. 769 00:46:17,830 --> 00:46:20,210 This can't be done 770 00:46:20,210 --> 00:46:25,210 without a very, very, very slow merging of the two objects. 771 00:46:31,140 --> 00:46:33,940 Realizing, all right, this is how you make planets. 772 00:46:33,940 --> 00:46:35,690 You have to take small objects 773 00:46:35,690 --> 00:46:36,980 and bring them together gently 774 00:46:36,980 --> 00:46:38,480 so they will stick. 775 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,330 And won't just smash each other to pieces 776 00:46:41,330 --> 00:46:43,850 and so you can build up things into larger objects 777 00:46:43,850 --> 00:46:46,600 and eventually end up with things the size of the Earth. 778 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,540 And here we were seeing that process 779 00:46:49,540 --> 00:46:52,343 for the first time in a real object 780 00:46:52,343 --> 00:46:55,733 that had been frozen in the early stages of that process. 781 00:46:57,230 --> 00:46:59,520 Super exciting to be able to take science 782 00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:03,860 by leaps and bounds just from a short period of time 783 00:47:03,860 --> 00:47:05,783 where we're getting data. 784 00:47:05,783 --> 00:47:08,700 (melancholy music) 785 00:47:13,430 --> 00:47:18,430 The outpouring of interest was an amazing thing to see 786 00:47:18,750 --> 00:47:23,039 and just goes to show that this kind of exploration 787 00:47:23,039 --> 00:47:25,490 can really bring people together no matter 788 00:47:25,490 --> 00:47:26,853 where you are in the world. 789 00:47:28,859 --> 00:47:31,918 (people cheering) 790 00:47:31,918 --> 00:47:35,796 I don't think words can really capture how much 791 00:47:35,796 --> 00:47:38,773 this mission means and how much of an effect 792 00:47:38,773 --> 00:47:40,533 it has had on my life. 793 00:47:42,330 --> 00:47:45,530 Do what you're passionate about. 794 00:47:45,530 --> 00:47:48,183 Don't do something because it's easy. 795 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:55,920 This was something for the post Voyager generation 796 00:47:56,190 --> 00:47:58,760 that they could say they were there 797 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,390 just like the previous generations could say 798 00:48:01,390 --> 00:48:04,230 they saw the first landing on the moon 799 00:48:04,230 --> 00:48:08,140 or the first flyby of Jupiter or Saturn 800 00:48:08,140 --> 00:48:10,275 or Uranus or Neptune. 801 00:48:10,275 --> 00:48:13,293 This was their first. 802 00:48:13,293 --> 00:48:17,510 We've opened up a new realm of the solar system. 803 00:48:17,510 --> 00:48:19,970 A new realm of human discovery. 804 00:48:19,970 --> 00:48:21,710 A half century long endeavor 805 00:48:21,710 --> 00:48:24,633 that will forever be a legacy of our time. 806 00:48:26,090 --> 00:48:29,163 We changed the world a little bit for the better. 807 00:48:30,100 --> 00:48:33,227 And we made a little something called history. 808 00:48:33,227 --> 00:48:36,060 (uplifting music) 809 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:43,760 There is no end to the discoveries that we can make 810 00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:47,050 out here in the solar system. 811 00:48:47,050 --> 00:48:48,623 We are just getting started. 812 00:48:50,740 --> 00:48:52,640 I gave lots of talks to the public 813 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:54,900 and I've been to many schools 814 00:48:54,900 --> 00:48:59,293 and it inspires young people to study science. 815 00:49:03,334 --> 00:49:06,660 (people cheering) 816 00:49:06,660 --> 00:49:10,290 When you have a dream, something in your heart, 817 00:49:10,290 --> 00:49:11,740 you should follow your heart. 818 00:49:12,780 --> 00:49:15,220 I never grew up thinking that I would 819 00:49:15,220 --> 00:49:18,500 be a part of something like that but now looking back, 820 00:49:18,500 --> 00:49:20,893 I realize everyday people make history.