One Strange Rock (2018) s01e06 Episode Script
Escape
From on board the spaceship,
you can see
the world has a secret.
At dawn or at dusk,
where the shadows are lining
up just the right way,
you're at just the
right place in time
to see an asteroid crater.
Where a bullet
from the universe,
left a perpetual hole,
in the smooth surface
of our planet.
There are a billion
years worth of impacts.
Huge asteroids have
smashed into the world,
and turned it into
an enveloped fire.
Uninhabitable to almost
all life on the surface.
The world will get hit again.
It's just a matter of when.
So, what should we
do as a species?
Should we just,
like the dinosaurs, look up,
and die?
The reasons the
dinosaurs are extinct,
is they didn't have
a space program.
We do.
We have the capability
to perhaps,
escape the Earth.
Escaping Earth?
Leaving home is hard
at the best of times.
Imagine how hard it would be,
if you were never coming back.
Not just back to your home town,
but your home planet.
A one-way ticket away
from everywhere,
everything and everyone
you know and need.
8 astronauts with over 1,000
days in space between then,
can tell us how being up there
helped them to understand
why we are going to
have to make a choice.
Faced with extinction
of life on Earth.
Our best chance of survival,
is to build another
colony somewhere else.
Having a base on Mars,
a base on the moon
or in other places,
is important to keep
our civilization going.
It's really kinda up to us,
how long we wanna
survive as a species.
Can we really cut the cord
with the planet that made us?
And face the physical extremes
and mental torment of space?
The answers are
right here on earth.
In some pretty
unexpected places.
Like
multi-million-year-old blood.
Mutant bugs.
And humans that had
left the land behind.
It is not going to be easy,
to get ourselves safely
away from the Earth
and onto another planet.
People will die.
This maybe what saves us.
It's decision time on The Rock.
Escape or extinction?
Earth's been
through some big changes.
Ice ages have come and gone
Volcanoes have blanketed
the world in ash.
And all of this
could happen again.
In fact, sooner or
later, it's going to.
So, if we knew a huge
asteroid was bearing down
Or a giant eruption was about
to suffocate the planet
We'd feel a lot better
if we had a Plan B.
To put a human base
on another planet,
it will involve risk.
It pushes our technology
right to the very edge
of our capability.
But the benefit is
for the whole species.
So today, what we're going out there
to do is intercept the eclipse.
Really experience the full eclipse
since it happens so rarely.
Fly and chase the moon.
You can't do it every day.
The F-15 is rated almost
up to Mach 2.5.
So, our goal is approximately three
minutes of time in the shadow.
Alright, let me break that down.
Luckily, my dad was in the
Air Force, so I can do this.
These guys are going to try something
they've never done before.
Something that shows how hard it
is to go from one planet to another.
Everything in our
galaxy is moving.
During an eclipse,
when the moon slides
across the sun
Its shadow speeds over the
air at 1700 miles per hour.
But it's easy to forget
that we're moving too.
Our planet spins at
1,000 miles per hour.
To stay in the moon's shadow,
the planes have to fly
faster than earth spins.
Three-three units, mark ready, ready now.
This is definitely
the ultimate intercept.
Chasing the fastest object
that we could chase.
If we can do this, we
can intercept anything.
Keep it tight, the
eclipse is coming.
Here comes the shadow
out in front of us now.
Alright stand by
OK.
That's pretty cool.
Twenty seconds.
It's almost like
you're in outer space.
As a kid, you know, you always
think about astronauts,
and travelling to space
and circling the moon.
But I never thought of how
fast the moon was travelling.
OK 5:30 into the eclipse.
Here comes the daylight.
And it's daytime.
If you're in an aeroplane,
and trying to chase that shadow,
that's really just a little
hint of how hard it is,
to launch a rocket ship,
and go intercept the moon or
go all the way out to Mars,
where everything is moving.
And the Earth isn't
just rotating.
It's moving through space at
almost 70,000 miles an hour.
While Mars is moving at
over 50,000 miles an hour.
It's like grabbing a
gun and trying to
hit a bullet with a bullet.
We've sent probes to Mars
and to Jupiter and to Saturn.
But probes are machines.
Getting people there?
That's a whole other
level of difficulty.
So before we make
that commitment,
and fire those engines,
we really wanna be sure
we know what we're doing.
The natural human
reaction to the unknown,
is fear.
But the greatest
antidote for fear,
is preparation.
Part of the reason
I love flight,
is how it makes me feel.
It pushes me a little bit closer
to the limit of my capabilities.
Especially when you're
flying an older plane.
Just barely give it
a couple of these.
You have to focus.
You have to constantly think
about what are the things
that are gonna try and kill me.
Try and predict what the
dangers are going to be.
And then try and
get ready for those.
Pull her out.
Yeah.
Here we go.
Permanently leaving the earth.
Turning our tail to the planet,
and firing the engines
to go somewhere else,
that is still right on
the edge of impossible.
But in 1902,
flying was impossible.
But after the Wright Brothers,
it was something
we knew how to do.
Summer of '69, impossible
to walk on the moon.
And then 12 people put their
grey, dusty footprints
into the surface of the moon.
So I think we'll go
from a space station,
to the moon,
and eventually onto Mars.
Because it's a necessary thing
for the survival of our species.
They call it
a Goldilocks planet.
A world that's not too
hot and not too cold.
Just like Earth.
Until we find it,
we're looking at the
next best thing.
Life on Mars.
But even if we have the
technology to leave our home,
do we have the biology?
Nothing good lasts forever.
Earth is no different.
If we want to outlast our home,
we need to franchise.
Set up an outlet
on another planet.
When we leave earth,
we leave behind
more than a rock.
Earth is a living planet.
An interconnected web of life.
We are part of it,
and it is part of us.
So when we go,
what comes and what stays.
One of the final stages of preparation
for my third space flight
to fly a Russian spaceship,
was wiping my entire body
with rubbing alcohol.
To try and get rid of as
many bacteria as possible.
You don't want the spaceship
to become unhealthy for
the people living there.
But bacteria have been
colonizing the planet,
for billions of years.
And they're pretty good
at getting everywhere.
To spot them we have
to use something else,
that's survived for a long time.
Horseshoe crabs were alive,
200 Million years
before the dinosaurs.
And yet,
they've turned out to be
surprisingly useful in space.
Their immune system is
primitive but effective.
So we make use of their
incredible blue blood.
When cells in their blood,
come into contact with bacteria,
they instantly release enzymes.
And these enzymes can be
used to detect bacteria,
at less than one
part per trillion.
That's like detecting
one grain of sugar,
in an Olympic size
swimming pool.
So we can use a tiny spec
of horseshoe crab blood,
to spot contamination.
It's easy to think of the
bacteria on my body,
as some foreign matter that
I would like to get rid of.
But if you look at us
under a microscope,
we're crawling with life.
There are more bacterial
cells in our body,
than there are human cells.
An entire universe inside me.
The more we study the
human microbiome,
all of the little microbes
that live within us,
and especially when we start
thinking about leaving earth,
the more we realize, the
bacteria aren't stowaways,
they're crew.
And we're going to have to
bring some of them with us,
when we go to another planet.
How far are
they, ahead, do you think?
I would say absolute
minimum of two,
probably at least three miles.
We are searching for
the world's biggest creature.
The blue whale.
Most species on the planet,
are totally dependant on their
microbiomes to survive.
It's amazing how similar
whales and humans are.
Even though we walk on the land
and they swim in the abyss,
the same biological
mechanisms are in play here.
The reality is, it's very difficult
to collect data on whales.
Imagine if an elephant
disappeared under the Serengeti,
and came up five miles away.
Whale's right
over here at ten o'clock.
Every time a whale exhales,
it's throwing up this
biological treasure trove.
Starting engines, clear.
So how can you collect biological
data in a non-invasive manner?
The answer is, snot bot.
30 plus feet, you're just
going off for visual?
Yeah, you're in good shape.
-And I see the whale now.
-OK.
You're right to sixteen feet, sixteen
Fourteen.
Alright. She's dived.
No words, lovely dive.
Might not have liked
that head on approach,
but there's no way to know.
As excited as we are
with this tool,
you've gotta be at the right
place at the right time.
OK, so the whale's been
doing 9-minute dives.
Let's launch the
drone at 8 minutes,
and then we're ready
when it comes up.
Hopefully we'll get
the second blow.
Looking good, right on track.
That's fourteen feet.
They're exchanging a
lung full of air,
probably bigger than a VW
in one or two seconds.
It's incredible.
-Staying with it.
-What's my height?
You're at 14.
Whale's looking really calm.
Moving very slowly.
Bingo.
Good job team, good job.
Alright, you guys ready
for landing, bring her in.
And this is gonna
be a snotty dish.
We know bacteria in the stomach
of whales is necessary
for digestion,
but we're starting to see that
the microbiome in the lungs,
plays a key role in
fighting infection.
Just like it does in humans.
There's a world of
bacteria outside us,
and a world of
bacteria inside us.
And nobody knows
what will happen,
when those two worlds
are pulled apart.
But we know one thing that
we can't take with us.
And it's something that
keep us all grounded.
The feeling in the platform is
full of emotion, is fear,
pressure, tension.
It's something that
you love to do.
Even when you know that
you can kill yourself.
You have only 2.9 seconds.
Anything can go wrong.
If you did a mistake
in the air
That's it, it's over.
We are all intimately
familiar with gravity.
The huge mass of the
world pulls us down.
We call it one 'g', that's
how the world pulls on us.
But we're the only species,
that has found a
way to cheat that.
Perhaps the most magic moment
in an astronaut's life,
is when the rocket
ship has done its job.
You are at the right height,
you're at the right speed,
the engine's shut off.
You're in space and for the
first time in your life,
you're weightless.
You feel like something
is magically pulling you
towards the ceiling.
It's just fun to be weightless.
And leaves a smile on your face.
You wanna play with it.
You wanna play with your food,
you wanna do a
thousand somersaults.
You wanna get into a big
part so the space station,
so you could push off the wall
and fly across like superman.
But even as you
feel super human,
you quickly start to
realize just how much
the human body needs gravity.
With gravity, I can
tell which way up is.
The weight of my
body as I sit down,
the weight of lifting my arms.
All of those things constantly
tell me which way is up.
But as soon as
your weightless
all that's gone.
And it makes you nauseous.
I was feeling terrible
when I first got to space.
And I thought to myself,
is this really fun?
When you wanna throw up,
really nothing's fun.
I did puke on my
first day in space.
When you're on Earth,
gravity is pulling all the
fluids in your body down.
When you're up in space,
there's a major fluid shift.
It feels like you've been
standing on your head
for about three hours.
Gravity defines how big
our heart has to be,
and what the configuration of our
cardiovascular system looks like.
The whole design
of the human body,
the skeleton underneath it,
the strength of the muscles,
it's really shaped by the
gravity of the Earth.
We don't really think about it,
but we're constantly
weight lifting on Earth.
Holding our head up,
holding our body up,
fighting gravity.
Without gravity,
your muscles and your bones
start to waste away.
We have machines that,
that we push against
and lift against,
and elastics that hold
us on the treadmill.
Sort of gravity simulations.
But even with the best exercise
equipment we've invented so far,
I lost about eight percent
of the bone density,
across my hips and
my upper femur.
My skeleton started
to waste away.
What do the effects of
weightlessness mean
for interplanetary exploration?
With that long time
in weightlessness
have degraded our
bodies enough that
we'd be useless
when we get there?
We're working on it,
but we definitely haven't
solved all those problems yet.
Astronauts.
Their heads swell and
they throw up a lot.
You don't see that
in the movies.
The truth is, we are
a part of this planet.
It is baked into our bones.
Down here we're
nurtured and protected.
But when we go, we'll
be going it alone.
If humanity wants to survive,
sooner or later we are going
to have to get off planet
Plan B.
But the second we step outside
the safety of our home,
we are exposed.
Our sun is constantly
spewing out radiation.
And occasionally there's
a huge solar flare,
or a big mass ejection
that could threaten
life on Earth.
The Earth is protected by a
magnetic field in the atmosphere.
And that force field helps
deflect the deadly radiation.
And it keeps it from driving right
through and hitting our bodies.
On board the International
Space Station,
we are much more vulnerable.
If the scientists on earth,
have seen one of these
huge storms from the sun
coming towards us,
we go to the parts of the space
station that have the best protection
from the storm of radiation
that's about to pour past.
You're subject to not
just the sun's radiation,
but all of the radiation
of the universe.
A strange thing
sometimes happens.
You see a flash of light
out of the darkness.
A reminder that you're
not in Kansas anymore.
When a star out in our galaxy,
dies in an enormous explosion
that we call a supernova,
it releases a huge
amount of energy.
Cosmic rays racing
across the universe,
at essentially the speed of
light, 186,000 miles a second.
So fast that those little
radiation particles,
come by Pluto and
make it all the way
to the earth in just five hours.
And if you're above
the earth's atmosphere,
there is nothing to stop
them slamming into your body.
Most of them you're unaware of.
But sometimes one of these
little cosmic rays,
goes through your optic nerve.
And because of the way
our vision is designed,
it actually reacts
like a flash of light.
And what you're actually seeing,
is radiation going through you.
I'd be lying there in my
sleeping bag and zap, zap, zap.
One of the best light
shows I've ever seen,
but at the same time, I
knew that that meant
that my head was getting
zapped by charged particles.
And it can be a show stopper,
it can be a bombardment of
radiation than not only,
you know, increases your chances
of cancer down the line.
But literally gives you
radiation sickness on the way.
If you're gonna spend
weeks or months or years,
on a space ship, you have
to start considering,
that this causes mutations.
It overwhelms your body's
ability to repair itself.
So, on our trip to
colonize the stars,
we know we'll get
seriously zapped.
We need to prepare for that.
We can start in a place
where the Geiger counter
clicks like it would in
a deep space mission.
Despite the fact
that this is a dangerous place,
Chernobyl provides this
unique opportunity,
to examine what happens to
the evolutionary process,
when you kick it with a
little extra mutation.
Back in '86, I
was a senior in high school.
And I remember the
nuclear meltdown,
that caused 400
times more fallout
than the first atomic bomb.
When the reactor exploded,
it was kind of like
a volcano erupting.
With radioactive metals being
ejected into the atmosphere.
That landed on the ground
in a haphazard way,
so there are these hot spots.
You come into this landscape,
that was once thriving with
happy people doing their thing.
It gives you an eerie feeling.
You really have to look around
and see what's being affected.
Many of the spider webs,
that were draped
alongside some of the
houses in the villages
were extremely unusual.
Some of the webs end up
looking extraordinarily messy.
They were very irregular.
They had big holes in them.
The spiders were having a
problem spinning a normal web.
It's not just behaviour
that's changing.
Some of the creatures are even
starting to look different.
And fire bugs are
pretty hard to miss.
If you look at it straight on,
you'll see what looks
like an African face mask.
Two big eyes, a nose and a chin
And because of the symmetry,
it makes it very easy
to detect deviations.
One of my colleagues
picked one up and said,
'Look, Tim, it's a mutant.'
This one bug was missing
one of the eye spots.
So, we starting collecting as
many bugs as we could find.
Bugs with really
unusual colour patterns,
were only found in these
areas of high radiation.
This is more serious than
changing your spots.
Mutations can kill you.
Humans in space
have a big problem.
So, mission cancelled?
Oh, not so fast.
There might be a fix.
One of the more striking,
unexpected observations
is that some species
appear to have adapted.
Some of the bacteria,
where there have been thousands
of generations since the accident
are becoming more
radiation resistant.
As a species,
humans are interested in
expanding our horizons.
Moving into space,
moving to other planets.
If we can develop a
better understanding
of the defences
used by organisms,
that maybe useful in developing
ways to protect humans.
Both here on this rock
as well as in outer space.
A traveller to Mars has to
survive 9 months in space,
and a 30-million-mile journey.
But once they get there,
they'll face their biggest
challenge of all.
And this time, it's personal.
One of my favourite things so see
from space is a place that you know.
You know, somewhere you grew up.
The town you were born in.
Or where you got married or
where you went on vacation.
It's a delight to have a memory,
like a present
unwrapping itself.
The further you get from earth,
one of the significant
problems is,
how do we mental the
mental health of the crew,
when you're so isolated
from the rest of humanity?
We don't really know
how difficult it's gonna be
for humans to leave Earth.
I mean, we're a part of earth.
There you are just
removed from mankind
and that distance,
being off the planet,
you feel a disconnect.
And I'd say, you know,
I'm sort of in a prison.
You know, I didn't do
anything wrong for sure,
but I am in a prison.
If I were the commander,
heading to Mars,
I would have a talk
with the crew and say,
'Earth is now behind us.
We are now Martians.'
Have we really been living
in this 1,000 square foot
dome for over 130 days?
After surpassing the halfway
point in the mission,
I'm feeling utter disbelief.
With the nature of an isolated
and confined environment,
we are effectively trapped.
HI-SEAS stands for the
Hawaii Space Exploration
Analogue and Simulation.
We want to know how to keep
people safe and happy in space.
Can they stay
friends, not go crazy?
Work well together for
the two to three years
it will take to go to the
Red Planet and back again.
Contact.
Testing, one, two, three.
Go with the exit protocol now.
You begin to think about
how harsh it is to live on Mars,
all the technology,
all the trouble you
have to go through,
just to go for a walk.
One of the greatest
challenges to space travel,
isn't technical at all.
It's the human vulnerability.
You don't see the ocean,
you don't see palm trees.
And you just see this
black and red lava.
It doesn't have the
different gravity,
the real harsh danger of Mars.
But it does have
the confinement.
And it has the isolation from
your family and friends.
I was surprised by how
much the stress affected
not just how I felt,
but how I performed.
Being away from your
family can be tough,
even for a week or two.
Life on Mars,
is an entirely different
kind of separation.
You're a pioneer.
You're never going
to see home again.
Everything you'll ever own,
you brought with you.
The rest?
You'll have to use
what you find.
Luckily,
that's something humans
are pretty good at.
We're already using
simulated Martian dust
to figure out how to
build a settlement,
somewhere besides our planet.
So, we're definitely
taking the first step.
Even if we survive the journey,
and make the place
feel like home,
we still might not
save our species.
Because just by being there,
we might turn into
something else.
Life tends to naturally settle
where the conditions
are best for it.
And from orbit,
you can actually see where
we have chosen to live.
Those patterns of human
habitation repeat themselves.
Some parts of the world
are so desirable
that there's not
enough land to support
everybody who wants
to live there.
We've taken nature
and modified it
to make the earth more habitable
for more human beings.
We don't really think about it,
but we've significantly
terraformed earth.
The farmer's fields,
the terraces,
the dams we've put up.
And when we go somewhere else,
we're going to inevitably
have to do the same thing.
But at the same time,
we are influenced by the
environment around us.
That shapes us.
Your body is constantly
changing itself and adapting,
to best perform in the environment
that you put it into.
The Bajau live
in a world of water.
Their kids swim
before they walk.
No need for goggles
or oxygen tanks,
their bodies have learned
to do without them.
The differences go deeper.
As children,
the lenses in their eyes adapt,
so their underwater vision
is twice as sharp as ours.
Pretty handy when
you're hunting.
In the short term,
humans can adjust.
In the long term
we evolve.
Maybe there is a Goldilocks
planet out there,
another Earth
If so, we'll be spending
lifetimes getting there.
What might happen to
generations born in space?
One of the ways to test that,
is to take life
forms from Earth,
that have a very
rapid life cycle,
and take them up to
the space station,
and see how they develop.
Jellyfish have small
sensors, like hairs.
And that lets them
know about gravity,
and which way's up.
Sort of like the balance system
we have in our inner ear.
When we took jellyfish
to the space station,
they did not develop normally.
When they came back to Earth,
the ones born in space,
couldn't tell which way was up.
It's a sobering thought,
getting to a new home
might change us in
ways we can't predict.
I'm confident that no
matter what is thrown at us
during this incredible journey,
we'll find a way to survive.
But there is a cost.
What we think of as us,
can only exist here.
We will no longer be
earthlings when we get there.
We will be become aliens.
Sometimes you can only really
see something from a distance.
No one ever got
homesick staying at home.
Earth has been
our constant companion.
There when the first
cell flickered to life,
here now as we
turn to the stars.
She's in our bones.
And in our guts
and in our minds.
We may one day venture
out from our strange rock.
But we'll never
get the Rock out of us.
Next time.
How our paradise planet
was made by life.
you can see
the world has a secret.
At dawn or at dusk,
where the shadows are lining
up just the right way,
you're at just the
right place in time
to see an asteroid crater.
Where a bullet
from the universe,
left a perpetual hole,
in the smooth surface
of our planet.
There are a billion
years worth of impacts.
Huge asteroids have
smashed into the world,
and turned it into
an enveloped fire.
Uninhabitable to almost
all life on the surface.
The world will get hit again.
It's just a matter of when.
So, what should we
do as a species?
Should we just,
like the dinosaurs, look up,
and die?
The reasons the
dinosaurs are extinct,
is they didn't have
a space program.
We do.
We have the capability
to perhaps,
escape the Earth.
Escaping Earth?
Leaving home is hard
at the best of times.
Imagine how hard it would be,
if you were never coming back.
Not just back to your home town,
but your home planet.
A one-way ticket away
from everywhere,
everything and everyone
you know and need.
8 astronauts with over 1,000
days in space between then,
can tell us how being up there
helped them to understand
why we are going to
have to make a choice.
Faced with extinction
of life on Earth.
Our best chance of survival,
is to build another
colony somewhere else.
Having a base on Mars,
a base on the moon
or in other places,
is important to keep
our civilization going.
It's really kinda up to us,
how long we wanna
survive as a species.
Can we really cut the cord
with the planet that made us?
And face the physical extremes
and mental torment of space?
The answers are
right here on earth.
In some pretty
unexpected places.
Like
multi-million-year-old blood.
Mutant bugs.
And humans that had
left the land behind.
It is not going to be easy,
to get ourselves safely
away from the Earth
and onto another planet.
People will die.
This maybe what saves us.
It's decision time on The Rock.
Escape or extinction?
Earth's been
through some big changes.
Ice ages have come and gone
Volcanoes have blanketed
the world in ash.
And all of this
could happen again.
In fact, sooner or
later, it's going to.
So, if we knew a huge
asteroid was bearing down
Or a giant eruption was about
to suffocate the planet
We'd feel a lot better
if we had a Plan B.
To put a human base
on another planet,
it will involve risk.
It pushes our technology
right to the very edge
of our capability.
But the benefit is
for the whole species.
So today, what we're going out there
to do is intercept the eclipse.
Really experience the full eclipse
since it happens so rarely.
Fly and chase the moon.
You can't do it every day.
The F-15 is rated almost
up to Mach 2.5.
So, our goal is approximately three
minutes of time in the shadow.
Alright, let me break that down.
Luckily, my dad was in the
Air Force, so I can do this.
These guys are going to try something
they've never done before.
Something that shows how hard it
is to go from one planet to another.
Everything in our
galaxy is moving.
During an eclipse,
when the moon slides
across the sun
Its shadow speeds over the
air at 1700 miles per hour.
But it's easy to forget
that we're moving too.
Our planet spins at
1,000 miles per hour.
To stay in the moon's shadow,
the planes have to fly
faster than earth spins.
Three-three units, mark ready, ready now.
This is definitely
the ultimate intercept.
Chasing the fastest object
that we could chase.
If we can do this, we
can intercept anything.
Keep it tight, the
eclipse is coming.
Here comes the shadow
out in front of us now.
Alright stand by
OK.
That's pretty cool.
Twenty seconds.
It's almost like
you're in outer space.
As a kid, you know, you always
think about astronauts,
and travelling to space
and circling the moon.
But I never thought of how
fast the moon was travelling.
OK 5:30 into the eclipse.
Here comes the daylight.
And it's daytime.
If you're in an aeroplane,
and trying to chase that shadow,
that's really just a little
hint of how hard it is,
to launch a rocket ship,
and go intercept the moon or
go all the way out to Mars,
where everything is moving.
And the Earth isn't
just rotating.
It's moving through space at
almost 70,000 miles an hour.
While Mars is moving at
over 50,000 miles an hour.
It's like grabbing a
gun and trying to
hit a bullet with a bullet.
We've sent probes to Mars
and to Jupiter and to Saturn.
But probes are machines.
Getting people there?
That's a whole other
level of difficulty.
So before we make
that commitment,
and fire those engines,
we really wanna be sure
we know what we're doing.
The natural human
reaction to the unknown,
is fear.
But the greatest
antidote for fear,
is preparation.
Part of the reason
I love flight,
is how it makes me feel.
It pushes me a little bit closer
to the limit of my capabilities.
Especially when you're
flying an older plane.
Just barely give it
a couple of these.
You have to focus.
You have to constantly think
about what are the things
that are gonna try and kill me.
Try and predict what the
dangers are going to be.
And then try and
get ready for those.
Pull her out.
Yeah.
Here we go.
Permanently leaving the earth.
Turning our tail to the planet,
and firing the engines
to go somewhere else,
that is still right on
the edge of impossible.
But in 1902,
flying was impossible.
But after the Wright Brothers,
it was something
we knew how to do.
Summer of '69, impossible
to walk on the moon.
And then 12 people put their
grey, dusty footprints
into the surface of the moon.
So I think we'll go
from a space station,
to the moon,
and eventually onto Mars.
Because it's a necessary thing
for the survival of our species.
They call it
a Goldilocks planet.
A world that's not too
hot and not too cold.
Just like Earth.
Until we find it,
we're looking at the
next best thing.
Life on Mars.
But even if we have the
technology to leave our home,
do we have the biology?
Nothing good lasts forever.
Earth is no different.
If we want to outlast our home,
we need to franchise.
Set up an outlet
on another planet.
When we leave earth,
we leave behind
more than a rock.
Earth is a living planet.
An interconnected web of life.
We are part of it,
and it is part of us.
So when we go,
what comes and what stays.
One of the final stages of preparation
for my third space flight
to fly a Russian spaceship,
was wiping my entire body
with rubbing alcohol.
To try and get rid of as
many bacteria as possible.
You don't want the spaceship
to become unhealthy for
the people living there.
But bacteria have been
colonizing the planet,
for billions of years.
And they're pretty good
at getting everywhere.
To spot them we have
to use something else,
that's survived for a long time.
Horseshoe crabs were alive,
200 Million years
before the dinosaurs.
And yet,
they've turned out to be
surprisingly useful in space.
Their immune system is
primitive but effective.
So we make use of their
incredible blue blood.
When cells in their blood,
come into contact with bacteria,
they instantly release enzymes.
And these enzymes can be
used to detect bacteria,
at less than one
part per trillion.
That's like detecting
one grain of sugar,
in an Olympic size
swimming pool.
So we can use a tiny spec
of horseshoe crab blood,
to spot contamination.
It's easy to think of the
bacteria on my body,
as some foreign matter that
I would like to get rid of.
But if you look at us
under a microscope,
we're crawling with life.
There are more bacterial
cells in our body,
than there are human cells.
An entire universe inside me.
The more we study the
human microbiome,
all of the little microbes
that live within us,
and especially when we start
thinking about leaving earth,
the more we realize, the
bacteria aren't stowaways,
they're crew.
And we're going to have to
bring some of them with us,
when we go to another planet.
How far are
they, ahead, do you think?
I would say absolute
minimum of two,
probably at least three miles.
We are searching for
the world's biggest creature.
The blue whale.
Most species on the planet,
are totally dependant on their
microbiomes to survive.
It's amazing how similar
whales and humans are.
Even though we walk on the land
and they swim in the abyss,
the same biological
mechanisms are in play here.
The reality is, it's very difficult
to collect data on whales.
Imagine if an elephant
disappeared under the Serengeti,
and came up five miles away.
Whale's right
over here at ten o'clock.
Every time a whale exhales,
it's throwing up this
biological treasure trove.
Starting engines, clear.
So how can you collect biological
data in a non-invasive manner?
The answer is, snot bot.
30 plus feet, you're just
going off for visual?
Yeah, you're in good shape.
-And I see the whale now.
-OK.
You're right to sixteen feet, sixteen
Fourteen.
Alright. She's dived.
No words, lovely dive.
Might not have liked
that head on approach,
but there's no way to know.
As excited as we are
with this tool,
you've gotta be at the right
place at the right time.
OK, so the whale's been
doing 9-minute dives.
Let's launch the
drone at 8 minutes,
and then we're ready
when it comes up.
Hopefully we'll get
the second blow.
Looking good, right on track.
That's fourteen feet.
They're exchanging a
lung full of air,
probably bigger than a VW
in one or two seconds.
It's incredible.
-Staying with it.
-What's my height?
You're at 14.
Whale's looking really calm.
Moving very slowly.
Bingo.
Good job team, good job.
Alright, you guys ready
for landing, bring her in.
And this is gonna
be a snotty dish.
We know bacteria in the stomach
of whales is necessary
for digestion,
but we're starting to see that
the microbiome in the lungs,
plays a key role in
fighting infection.
Just like it does in humans.
There's a world of
bacteria outside us,
and a world of
bacteria inside us.
And nobody knows
what will happen,
when those two worlds
are pulled apart.
But we know one thing that
we can't take with us.
And it's something that
keep us all grounded.
The feeling in the platform is
full of emotion, is fear,
pressure, tension.
It's something that
you love to do.
Even when you know that
you can kill yourself.
You have only 2.9 seconds.
Anything can go wrong.
If you did a mistake
in the air
That's it, it's over.
We are all intimately
familiar with gravity.
The huge mass of the
world pulls us down.
We call it one 'g', that's
how the world pulls on us.
But we're the only species,
that has found a
way to cheat that.
Perhaps the most magic moment
in an astronaut's life,
is when the rocket
ship has done its job.
You are at the right height,
you're at the right speed,
the engine's shut off.
You're in space and for the
first time in your life,
you're weightless.
You feel like something
is magically pulling you
towards the ceiling.
It's just fun to be weightless.
And leaves a smile on your face.
You wanna play with it.
You wanna play with your food,
you wanna do a
thousand somersaults.
You wanna get into a big
part so the space station,
so you could push off the wall
and fly across like superman.
But even as you
feel super human,
you quickly start to
realize just how much
the human body needs gravity.
With gravity, I can
tell which way up is.
The weight of my
body as I sit down,
the weight of lifting my arms.
All of those things constantly
tell me which way is up.
But as soon as
your weightless
all that's gone.
And it makes you nauseous.
I was feeling terrible
when I first got to space.
And I thought to myself,
is this really fun?
When you wanna throw up,
really nothing's fun.
I did puke on my
first day in space.
When you're on Earth,
gravity is pulling all the
fluids in your body down.
When you're up in space,
there's a major fluid shift.
It feels like you've been
standing on your head
for about three hours.
Gravity defines how big
our heart has to be,
and what the configuration of our
cardiovascular system looks like.
The whole design
of the human body,
the skeleton underneath it,
the strength of the muscles,
it's really shaped by the
gravity of the Earth.
We don't really think about it,
but we're constantly
weight lifting on Earth.
Holding our head up,
holding our body up,
fighting gravity.
Without gravity,
your muscles and your bones
start to waste away.
We have machines that,
that we push against
and lift against,
and elastics that hold
us on the treadmill.
Sort of gravity simulations.
But even with the best exercise
equipment we've invented so far,
I lost about eight percent
of the bone density,
across my hips and
my upper femur.
My skeleton started
to waste away.
What do the effects of
weightlessness mean
for interplanetary exploration?
With that long time
in weightlessness
have degraded our
bodies enough that
we'd be useless
when we get there?
We're working on it,
but we definitely haven't
solved all those problems yet.
Astronauts.
Their heads swell and
they throw up a lot.
You don't see that
in the movies.
The truth is, we are
a part of this planet.
It is baked into our bones.
Down here we're
nurtured and protected.
But when we go, we'll
be going it alone.
If humanity wants to survive,
sooner or later we are going
to have to get off planet
Plan B.
But the second we step outside
the safety of our home,
we are exposed.
Our sun is constantly
spewing out radiation.
And occasionally there's
a huge solar flare,
or a big mass ejection
that could threaten
life on Earth.
The Earth is protected by a
magnetic field in the atmosphere.
And that force field helps
deflect the deadly radiation.
And it keeps it from driving right
through and hitting our bodies.
On board the International
Space Station,
we are much more vulnerable.
If the scientists on earth,
have seen one of these
huge storms from the sun
coming towards us,
we go to the parts of the space
station that have the best protection
from the storm of radiation
that's about to pour past.
You're subject to not
just the sun's radiation,
but all of the radiation
of the universe.
A strange thing
sometimes happens.
You see a flash of light
out of the darkness.
A reminder that you're
not in Kansas anymore.
When a star out in our galaxy,
dies in an enormous explosion
that we call a supernova,
it releases a huge
amount of energy.
Cosmic rays racing
across the universe,
at essentially the speed of
light, 186,000 miles a second.
So fast that those little
radiation particles,
come by Pluto and
make it all the way
to the earth in just five hours.
And if you're above
the earth's atmosphere,
there is nothing to stop
them slamming into your body.
Most of them you're unaware of.
But sometimes one of these
little cosmic rays,
goes through your optic nerve.
And because of the way
our vision is designed,
it actually reacts
like a flash of light.
And what you're actually seeing,
is radiation going through you.
I'd be lying there in my
sleeping bag and zap, zap, zap.
One of the best light
shows I've ever seen,
but at the same time, I
knew that that meant
that my head was getting
zapped by charged particles.
And it can be a show stopper,
it can be a bombardment of
radiation than not only,
you know, increases your chances
of cancer down the line.
But literally gives you
radiation sickness on the way.
If you're gonna spend
weeks or months or years,
on a space ship, you have
to start considering,
that this causes mutations.
It overwhelms your body's
ability to repair itself.
So, on our trip to
colonize the stars,
we know we'll get
seriously zapped.
We need to prepare for that.
We can start in a place
where the Geiger counter
clicks like it would in
a deep space mission.
Despite the fact
that this is a dangerous place,
Chernobyl provides this
unique opportunity,
to examine what happens to
the evolutionary process,
when you kick it with a
little extra mutation.
Back in '86, I
was a senior in high school.
And I remember the
nuclear meltdown,
that caused 400
times more fallout
than the first atomic bomb.
When the reactor exploded,
it was kind of like
a volcano erupting.
With radioactive metals being
ejected into the atmosphere.
That landed on the ground
in a haphazard way,
so there are these hot spots.
You come into this landscape,
that was once thriving with
happy people doing their thing.
It gives you an eerie feeling.
You really have to look around
and see what's being affected.
Many of the spider webs,
that were draped
alongside some of the
houses in the villages
were extremely unusual.
Some of the webs end up
looking extraordinarily messy.
They were very irregular.
They had big holes in them.
The spiders were having a
problem spinning a normal web.
It's not just behaviour
that's changing.
Some of the creatures are even
starting to look different.
And fire bugs are
pretty hard to miss.
If you look at it straight on,
you'll see what looks
like an African face mask.
Two big eyes, a nose and a chin
And because of the symmetry,
it makes it very easy
to detect deviations.
One of my colleagues
picked one up and said,
'Look, Tim, it's a mutant.'
This one bug was missing
one of the eye spots.
So, we starting collecting as
many bugs as we could find.
Bugs with really
unusual colour patterns,
were only found in these
areas of high radiation.
This is more serious than
changing your spots.
Mutations can kill you.
Humans in space
have a big problem.
So, mission cancelled?
Oh, not so fast.
There might be a fix.
One of the more striking,
unexpected observations
is that some species
appear to have adapted.
Some of the bacteria,
where there have been thousands
of generations since the accident
are becoming more
radiation resistant.
As a species,
humans are interested in
expanding our horizons.
Moving into space,
moving to other planets.
If we can develop a
better understanding
of the defences
used by organisms,
that maybe useful in developing
ways to protect humans.
Both here on this rock
as well as in outer space.
A traveller to Mars has to
survive 9 months in space,
and a 30-million-mile journey.
But once they get there,
they'll face their biggest
challenge of all.
And this time, it's personal.
One of my favourite things so see
from space is a place that you know.
You know, somewhere you grew up.
The town you were born in.
Or where you got married or
where you went on vacation.
It's a delight to have a memory,
like a present
unwrapping itself.
The further you get from earth,
one of the significant
problems is,
how do we mental the
mental health of the crew,
when you're so isolated
from the rest of humanity?
We don't really know
how difficult it's gonna be
for humans to leave Earth.
I mean, we're a part of earth.
There you are just
removed from mankind
and that distance,
being off the planet,
you feel a disconnect.
And I'd say, you know,
I'm sort of in a prison.
You know, I didn't do
anything wrong for sure,
but I am in a prison.
If I were the commander,
heading to Mars,
I would have a talk
with the crew and say,
'Earth is now behind us.
We are now Martians.'
Have we really been living
in this 1,000 square foot
dome for over 130 days?
After surpassing the halfway
point in the mission,
I'm feeling utter disbelief.
With the nature of an isolated
and confined environment,
we are effectively trapped.
HI-SEAS stands for the
Hawaii Space Exploration
Analogue and Simulation.
We want to know how to keep
people safe and happy in space.
Can they stay
friends, not go crazy?
Work well together for
the two to three years
it will take to go to the
Red Planet and back again.
Contact.
Testing, one, two, three.
Go with the exit protocol now.
You begin to think about
how harsh it is to live on Mars,
all the technology,
all the trouble you
have to go through,
just to go for a walk.
One of the greatest
challenges to space travel,
isn't technical at all.
It's the human vulnerability.
You don't see the ocean,
you don't see palm trees.
And you just see this
black and red lava.
It doesn't have the
different gravity,
the real harsh danger of Mars.
But it does have
the confinement.
And it has the isolation from
your family and friends.
I was surprised by how
much the stress affected
not just how I felt,
but how I performed.
Being away from your
family can be tough,
even for a week or two.
Life on Mars,
is an entirely different
kind of separation.
You're a pioneer.
You're never going
to see home again.
Everything you'll ever own,
you brought with you.
The rest?
You'll have to use
what you find.
Luckily,
that's something humans
are pretty good at.
We're already using
simulated Martian dust
to figure out how to
build a settlement,
somewhere besides our planet.
So, we're definitely
taking the first step.
Even if we survive the journey,
and make the place
feel like home,
we still might not
save our species.
Because just by being there,
we might turn into
something else.
Life tends to naturally settle
where the conditions
are best for it.
And from orbit,
you can actually see where
we have chosen to live.
Those patterns of human
habitation repeat themselves.
Some parts of the world
are so desirable
that there's not
enough land to support
everybody who wants
to live there.
We've taken nature
and modified it
to make the earth more habitable
for more human beings.
We don't really think about it,
but we've significantly
terraformed earth.
The farmer's fields,
the terraces,
the dams we've put up.
And when we go somewhere else,
we're going to inevitably
have to do the same thing.
But at the same time,
we are influenced by the
environment around us.
That shapes us.
Your body is constantly
changing itself and adapting,
to best perform in the environment
that you put it into.
The Bajau live
in a world of water.
Their kids swim
before they walk.
No need for goggles
or oxygen tanks,
their bodies have learned
to do without them.
The differences go deeper.
As children,
the lenses in their eyes adapt,
so their underwater vision
is twice as sharp as ours.
Pretty handy when
you're hunting.
In the short term,
humans can adjust.
In the long term
we evolve.
Maybe there is a Goldilocks
planet out there,
another Earth
If so, we'll be spending
lifetimes getting there.
What might happen to
generations born in space?
One of the ways to test that,
is to take life
forms from Earth,
that have a very
rapid life cycle,
and take them up to
the space station,
and see how they develop.
Jellyfish have small
sensors, like hairs.
And that lets them
know about gravity,
and which way's up.
Sort of like the balance system
we have in our inner ear.
When we took jellyfish
to the space station,
they did not develop normally.
When they came back to Earth,
the ones born in space,
couldn't tell which way was up.
It's a sobering thought,
getting to a new home
might change us in
ways we can't predict.
I'm confident that no
matter what is thrown at us
during this incredible journey,
we'll find a way to survive.
But there is a cost.
What we think of as us,
can only exist here.
We will no longer be
earthlings when we get there.
We will be become aliens.
Sometimes you can only really
see something from a distance.
No one ever got
homesick staying at home.
Earth has been
our constant companion.
There when the first
cell flickered to life,
here now as we
turn to the stars.
She's in our bones.
And in our guts
and in our minds.
We may one day venture
out from our strange rock.
But we'll never
get the Rock out of us.
Next time.
How our paradise planet
was made by life.