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["Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry playing]

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[beeping]

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♪ Deep down in Louisiana
Close to New Orleans ♪

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♪ Way back up in the woods
Among the evergreens ♪

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♪ There stood a log cabin
Made of earth and wood ♪

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♪ Where lived a country boy
Named Johnny B. Goode... ♪

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[boy] Hello from the children
of planet Earth.

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[man] ...extend the greetings
of the government and the people of Canada

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to the extraterrestrial inhabitants
of outer space...

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[woman speaking in foreign language]

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[Carl] From my point of view,
the search for extraterrestrial life,

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and especially the search
for extraterrestrial intelligence,

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is one of the key philosophical,
scientific and human questions

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that have been posed, but we are
at the very beginning of searching.

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[people speaking in multiple languages]

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[narrator] It was Carl Sagan's idea

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to send a greeting card
to our neighbors in the cosmos.

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An idea ahead of its time,

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since we haven't really met
any neighbors out there

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in the vastness of space.

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We still haven't,
but we're getting closer every day.

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[thunder crashing]

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[insects chirping]

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It was a greeting
not only in words and images,

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but full of the sights and sounds
of our precious planet.

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[heart beating]

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[children laughing]

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[baby crying]

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[narrator] It's a message in a bottle

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that we sent into the sea
of interstellar space,

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where it's still sailing

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at 11 miles per second
towards the unknown.

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[animal howling]

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[instrumental music playing]

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[narrator] Sagan said that,
"We make our world significant

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by the courage of our questions,

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and by the depth of our answers."

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He wasn't afraid of making
extraordinary claims,

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as long as they were backed up
by extraordinary evidence.

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It might be a while before we hear

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from an alien
who's found our message in a bottle.

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So today, instead of waiting
to hear from life out there,

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we're going to go looking for it.

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Let's start here,

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on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii,

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where the W. M. Keck Observatory
scans the clear night sky.

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Carl Sagan knew what explorers
have always known,

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by understanding more about our neighbors,

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we will understand more about ourselves

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and our place in the universe.

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No one knows Sagan's vision
more than Lisa Kaltenegger,

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the director of the Carl Sagan Institute
at Cornell University.

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[Lisa] Carl Sagan and his approach
to science inspired me.

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We are using many different
fields of science,

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astronomy, chemistry, biology,
engineering and many more,

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to make a forensic toolkit

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to understand our place
in this fascinating universe.

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[beeping]

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[narrator] Before the Voyager spacecraft
left our solar system,

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it made some remarkable discoveries.

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It proved that we need to be
more open-minded

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about where we search for alien life.

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In 1980, Voyager first reached Saturn...

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a raging ball of hydrogen
and helium storms.

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Not much chance of finding life there.

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Voyager then turned
to one of Saturn's 62 moons...

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capturing the first close-up images

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of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

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What it saw stunned astronomers.

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Titan had a dense atmosphere,
mostly made of nitrogen.

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Twenty-four years later,
the Cassini probe revealed even more.

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On the surface are vast lakes
of hydrocarbons,

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the building blocks
of amino acids, proteins.

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Cassini continued
on its celestial road trip,

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where it found
this frozen outpost, Enceladus.

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This moon appeared to be frozen solid,

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a dead ball of ice,

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until something astounding
was spotted near the south pole...

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huge plumes of water,

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spouting through cracks
in the surface ice.

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Beneath the frozen surface of Enceladus,
was an ocean of liquid water.

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It turns out that planet Earth

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doesn't have a monopoly on water
like we once thought.

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[Lisa] On Earth, water is key to life.

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It abounds on our planet
and every animal, every plant,

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every life-form depends on it
for survival.

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The seas are where life was born.

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Water is the lifeblood of existence.

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On Earth, liquid water is critical
for life-forms that live in it...

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as it is for those that live out of it.

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When we search for alien worlds
that might support life,

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the presence of liquid water
is a critical clue.

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If a world has liquid water,
there's a chance for life.

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[narrator] First discovered
by Polynesian seafarers,

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Hawaii is one of the most
isolated string of islands in the Pacific.

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These islands were formed
when magma bubbled up

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and cooled into mountains.

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Each new outcropping of lava

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is home to a dazzling variety
of plants and animals, from above...

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and below the surface of the sea.

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More than 25,000 species

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make this one of the most dynamic
living habitats anywhere.

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A living laboratory
for the resilience of life.

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[Lisa] Biologist Chris Johns

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knows the fauna and flora
of Hawaii really well,

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including some amazing examples
of the extremes

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life will go to, to survive.

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[narrator] A stretch of barren lava rock.

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It isn't the first place
you'd expect to find life...

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but that's exactly where nature
has hidden a few surprises.

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[steam hissing]

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[Lisa] These lava tubes extend for miles.

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They were created when lava drained out
from an ancient volcanic eruption

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beneath a crust that hardened above.

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This is amazing, a whole new Hawaii
I've never seen before.

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A secret, hidden Hawaii.

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[Chris] Keep to your left.

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It's just up ahead.

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[narrator] In this upside-down place,

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you have to look up to see the roots
of the remarkable Ohia tree.

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[Lisa] They're beautiful,

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hanging down into the caves
like sparkling jewels.

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Yeah, so we can actually check out
some of these microstructures...

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And they sparkle

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because they're covered in water,

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moisture that has condensed
from the humid air.

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Life needs liquid water to survive,

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but the Ohia tree shows us
that it can be very innovative

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in the way it finds it.

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-...for our data collection.
-OK.

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[instrumental music playing]

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[narrator] This is the Haleakala Valley
on the island of Maui.

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NASA uses alien landscapes like these
to test their Mars rovers

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before sending them off to the Red Planet.

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The soil here is made of cinders,

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the altitude is over a mile high

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and the weather is dry, sunny,

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windy and freezing.

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It's the last place you'd expect
Mother Nature to start gardening.

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This is the Haleakala silversword.

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Its fat leaves store water
and are covered with tiny hairs

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that pick up humidity in the dry air

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and send it down
as liquid water to the roots.

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Water, as liquid, or carried on the wind,

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or coursing across the landscape,

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makes Earth a thriving paradise of life.

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Water, with a dash of carbon

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and a little energy from the sun,

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are the simple ingredients
for life to blossom.

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[indistinct radio chatter]

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[narrator] In the canyons
of this undersea world,

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there is no sunlight
and the water pressure is,

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to put it simply, bone-crushing.

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And yet,
more than a mile down from the surface,

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life flourishes.

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These hydrothermal vents
leak out heat and minerals

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from the Earth's core.

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They're called black smokers
and ooze clouds of sulfur,

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which is toxic and smelly to you and me,

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but to the deep-sea bacteria
that thrive here,

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it's good, wholesome nutrition.

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If life can thrive here in the dark,
pressurized depths of Earth's oceans,

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what about other oceans,

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like the one on Enceladus?

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[Lisa] For years,
we have searched the planets

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in our solar system
for signs of alien life.

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But perhaps it will be a moon
that first confirms that we are not alone.

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Some moons have
all the key ingredients for life,

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water, carbon and energy.

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Energy not from the sun or from volcanoes,

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but from massive tides,
crammed beneath the icy crusts

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and dragged around
by Saturn's colossal gravitation.

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[narrator] Next stop, the moons
of the gas giant, Jupiter.

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Ganymede,

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the largest moon in the solar system.

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This big guy is covered with an icy crust

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which hides an astonishing surprise...

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perhaps more salt water
than all of the oceans on Earth combined.

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And what's waiting for us here
on the surface of our neighbor, Mars?

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These are actual images

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captured by
the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

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that shows the Red Planet
covered in topsoil.

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When the NASA rover, Curiosity,

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first scooped up
a handful of this red soil.

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Geologists thought
it looked surprisingly familiar,

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like the soil back home in Hawaii.

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Mars has water, masses of it,

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frozen at the poles
and more buried within its soil.

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Water, carbon, energy from the sun,

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all the basic ingredients
for life are here.

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That's why biologists

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wouldn't be surprised
to find life on Mars,

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not the kind
with flying saucers and ray guns,

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but still, fascinating
microscopic and very real life.

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[Lisa] They would have to be resilient,

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able to withstand extreme temperatures

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and a constant bombardment
by radiation from space.

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Our own planet has a magnetic field
and a thick atmosphere

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that largely shields us
from deadly cosmic radiation.

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[narrator] When we humans make it to Mars,

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we'll need a lot of technology
just to help us survive.

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But there are some residents of Earth

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that would thrive on the Red Planet.

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The water bear or tardigrade
is a perfect example

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of extreme survivalist,

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a tiny, water Bear Grylls.

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00:19:38,958 --> 00:19:40,583
[indistinct radio transmission]

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[narrator] In the toughest test of all,
these hearty little guys

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were launched into the frozen vacuum
of outer space

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and blasted
with severe cosmic radiation...

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00:19:56,792 --> 00:19:58,792
[indistinct radio transmission]

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00:19:59,917 --> 00:20:04,167
...hostile to humans,
but not to water bears.

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I am constantly reminded
of the tenacity of life.

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Perhaps life in our solar system
is far more common than we realize.

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In 2022, an ESA spacecraft
will take a closer look

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00:20:38,667 --> 00:20:43,167
at Jupiter's moon, Europa,
and its mysterious red cracks.

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00:20:47,417 --> 00:20:51,542
Ice-penetrating radar will show us
what lies beneath the surface

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of this strangely scarred world.

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00:21:02,417 --> 00:21:05,875
[narrator] Astrobiologists constantly
scour space

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for the conditions that support life.

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And their search doesn't end
in our own backyard.

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It's beyond our solar system

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00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,917
that the really
exciting discoveries are waiting.

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These are "The Pillars of Creation,"

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massive clouds of gas and dust.

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This cloud of dust is a star factory
in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

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It's in awe-inspiring places like this

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where nature churns out
billions and billions of stars.

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And around many of those stars, planets,

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perhaps as many as one hundred billion...

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and on those planets... possibilities.

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[Lisa] Some of the planets we have
already found are much older than Earth,

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00:22:31,167 --> 00:22:33,792
worlds more than twice the age of Earth.

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If such planets have life,

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it could have evolved
much further than us.

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[radio blips trilling]

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00:22:50,420 --> 00:22:52,875
This is the Kepler telescope,

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00:22:54,417 --> 00:22:58,250
a remarkable planet hunter
that has already discovered

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00:22:58,333 --> 00:23:02,000
more than half the known planets
beyond our solar system.

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00:23:03,833 --> 00:23:04,833
But how?

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00:23:04,917 --> 00:23:07,125
[indistinct radio transmission]

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00:23:12,708 --> 00:23:18,458
[Lisa] With extraordinary sensitivity,
Kepler is able to lock onto distant stars

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00:23:18,542 --> 00:23:21,833
to detect if something passes
in front of them,

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00:23:23,420 --> 00:23:27,420
tiny dots that dim the star's light
ever so slightly.

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00:23:29,167 --> 00:23:31,625
Tiny dots equal planets.

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00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:42,792
Only a month into operation,
Kepler found its first giant planets,

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all bigger than Jupiter.

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Slowly but surely, even though
they are much harder to find,

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Kepler has discovered
more and more small planets

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and among those,
the first potentially Earth-like worlds.

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The other amazing thing
is that Kepler has found

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all these planets by searching
only a tiny piece of the galaxy.

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Until recently, Kepler was always focused
on exactly the same area of the Milky Way,

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spanning only two percent
of the night sky.

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And in this tiny area, it has detected
thousands of planets orbiting alien suns.

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I think this would have been
one of Carl Sagan's dreams coming true.

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[narrator] Once Kepler has found evidence
of a new planet,

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the data is turned over to astronomers
back here in Hawaii.

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Giant telescopes can confirm
Kepler's findings.

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Once confirmation has been made,

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telescopes can go further
and actually observe distant planets.

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More than 120 light-years away,

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this small red dot
is the very first alien planet

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ever seen by humans.

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It's nearly 13 times the mass of Jupiter

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and orbits around its own parent star.

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More and more of these distant planets
are coming into focus.

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As our telescopes become smarter
and more powerful,

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we might even spot
a planet with a tiny halo,

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an atmosphere,

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and just maybe
a thriving habitat for life.

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Lisa knows the procedure very well.

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In fact, she's writing
the rule book on it.

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[Lisa] When light filters
through a planet's atmosphere,

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it creates a spectral fingerprint,

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telling us if the planet possesses
the essentials for life.

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[narrator] We're living
in a new golden age of space exploration.

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Over a dozen spacecraft
have already been dispatched to Mars.

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If there's life there, we'll find it.

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The conditions for life
are everywhere you look in the universe

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and as our ability to see improves,

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so does our ability to discover and learn.

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The Messenger probe took a trip to Mercury

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where it found frozen water
on the surface.

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The Juno spacecraft flew
half a billion miles to orbit Jupiter,

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where it's unwrapping
the mysteries of the gas giant,

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which may actually have a solid core

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hidden beneath the storms
raging across its surface.

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And as an encore, we've landed
a spacecraft on a comet

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as it flew through our neighborhood
on its long journey around the sun.

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And there we found something astounding

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and essential to human life, oxygen.

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And finally,
scientists have now discovered

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an Earth-like planet
in our neighboring solar system.

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We call it Proxima b.

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It doesn't get any closer to home.

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[Lisa] Imagine that soon
we could discover continents, oceans

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and maybe the first sign
of life on alien worlds.

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This is what Carl Sagan implored us to do.

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[narrator] Human endeavor and curiosity
are helping us better understand

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our purpose in the universe.

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When we leave Earth's grasp
and venture into space,

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we stand as one,

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representing all of humanity.

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Life out there might be microscopic
or it might be someone intelligent enough

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to find Voyager

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and listen to our message in a bottle.

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[child laughing]

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[boy] Hello from the children
of Planet Earth.

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[man] ...extend the greetings
of the government and the people of Canada

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to the extraterrestrial inhabitants
of outer space...

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[people speaking in multiple languages]

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[instrumental music playing]