WEBVTT FILE

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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(wind whistling softly)

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♪ ♪

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(wind howling)

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STEVE SQUYRES:
At the beginning, there's nothing.

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There's no concept of a robot explorer

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crawling across the surface
of another world.

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And then, gradually, you start to think.

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You start to act.

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We just start to build.

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And those machines come to life.

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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BEKAH SOSLAND SIEGFRIEDT:
A lot of people out there would say,

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"Oh, they're just robots."

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(beeping, whirring)

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But once we turned them on
for the first time,

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they became so much more
than just robots on another planet.

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("Roam" by The B-52's playing)

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(electronic trilling)

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♪ Boy, mercury ♪

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♪ Shooting through every degree ♪

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♪ Oh, girl dancing down those dirty ♪

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♪ And dusty trails ♪

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(over speaker):
♪ Roam if you want to ♪

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♪ Roam around the world ♪

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♪ Roam if you want to ♪

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♪ Without wings, without wheels ♪

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♪ Roam if you want to... ♪

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KOBIE BOYKINS:
Once the rover's on Mars,

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it has its own life.

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There's energy pulsing through its veins.

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And it needs to be given love.

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("Roam" continues)

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ASHLEY STROUPE: And so we try
and keep her as safe as possible...

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...but sometimes she has
a mind of her own.

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♪ Take it hip to hip ♪

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♪ Rocket through the wilderness ♪

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♪ Around the world... ♪

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DOUG ELLISON:
And so, yeah, it's only a robot.

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But through this robot, we are on
this incredible adventure together.

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And she becomes a family member.

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♪ Roam if you want to ♪

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♪ Without anything but the love we feel. ♪

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-(clicking, whirring)
-(rumbling)

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(buzzing)

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(song fades)

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(wind howling)

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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JENNIFER TROSPER:
Something I think we all wonder about

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as we look up into the night sky...

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...is if we're really alone
in this universe.

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And trying to understand that

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is one of the great mysteries
that we have.

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ROB MANNING:
Over the centuries,

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Mars has been this enigmatic

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little red dot in the sky.

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It invigorated imaginations
of millions of people.

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What could be going on
in that distant land?

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STROUPE:
The overall goal of the whole Mars program

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has been the question of:
Did Mars ever actually have life?

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So, especially early on
in the Mars missions,

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we were following the water.

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That's because, at least on Earth,
everywhere that we find water...

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...there's life.

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(screeching)

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And so the question is:

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Was there water on Mars?

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And what kind of water?

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And could that have helped sustain life?

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MANNING: So, in the mid '70s,
the two Viking missions

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were kind of the epitome
of exploration at the time.

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NASA sent two orbiters and two landers,

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which would give us
a whole new perspective on Mars.

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SQUYRES:
Uh-huh.

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Ah...

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Wow.

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Yeah, there's the good one.

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Wow.

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(exhales, chuckles)

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It's funny to have such intense memories

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associated with a bunch
of 40-year-old pixels.

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(laughs)

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But I do, man.

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I remember the very first time I saw it.

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♪ ♪

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At the time of the Viking mission,
I was a bang-it-with-a-hammer geologist.

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I would go out in the field,
and I would do geologic fieldwork.

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Fascinating science,

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but what I found disappointing about it

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was that there weren't
new places to discover.

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But then I started working with the images

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from the Viking orbiters,
and I would look down

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on Mars using these pictures...

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...and I had no idea
what I was looking at,

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but the beauty of it was nobody did.

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This was seeing stuff
nobody had ever seen before.

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And I knew that I was gonna do
space exploration.

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MANNING: The two Viking orbiters,
as they looked down on Mars, they saw...

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You know, that's strange.

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There could be signs
of past water flowing.

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Was Mars once a green world

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with living things and-and blue oceans?

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SQUYRES:
We'd go there ourselves if we could.

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But we can't.

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And I just knew
from my training as a geologist

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that if we could get a rover
down on the Martian surface

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and it could move around and travel

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and actually look close up at the rocks,

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we might find out the truth
about Martian history.

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And so, starting in the mid '80s,

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I'd spent ten years
writing proposals to NASA,

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but the proposals all failed. (laughs)

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And I was facing
the unpleasant possibility

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that I had just wasted
an entire decade of my career

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with nothing to show for it.

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♪ ♪

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MANNING:
But then we pulled a team together at JPL.

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Could we actually put the rover
that Steve Squyres imagined

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and use this landing system
that we already designed?

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So we produced a proposal

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and presented that to NASA.

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SQUYRES:
And we finally get the phone call...

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...that made our dream come true.

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Well, I am indeed very, very happy
that we're able to announce

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that we are returning to Mars--
this time in force-- with twins.

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The Mars twin rovers.

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SQUYRES:
We named 'em Spirit and Opportunity.

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This was ten years of writing proposals

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that finally produced the result
that I'd been dreaming of.

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But I think, if I had known at that time

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what an arduous path
it was going to be from that point

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to actually get onto the surface of Mars,

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I wouldn't have felt
quite as elated as I did.

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(indistinct chatter)

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MAN: If we could take our seat,
I'd like to get started.

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TROSPER:
Okay, I'm up here as the project engineer

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in order to make sure
that the big picture fits together

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between the flight system
and mission system.

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I'll briefly go over launch,
cruise and EDL.

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Our whole objective was to build
two autonomous

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solar-powered rovers
that could survive 90 sols,

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three months on Mars.

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And we were really hoping
that at least one of them would work.

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But we knew that if we don't get it right
we're gonna miss our launch date.

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SQUYRES:
Schedule for mission to Mars

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is literally driven by
the alignment of the planets,

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and if you miss that launch window,
the next one comes around...

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...26 months later.

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MANNING: That's no time to design,
develop and test two rovers

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and put them on two rockets.

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And the pressure on the team
is really phenomenal.

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So we had to come up with an amazing team

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working around the clock to pull it off.

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BOYKINS:
From a young age, I was into Star Trek.

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I wanted to be Geordi La Forge.

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Engineering, this is La Forge.

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Shut down power to all transporters.
I'm on my way.

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BOYKINS: But I didn't really know
what that job was.

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You know, I knew they were the "engineer,"
but I didn't know what that was.

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I just knew that I wanted to be
the person that always fixed things.

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Building Spirit and Opportunity
really started on just a whiteboard.

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Okay, we want to have a 90-day mission,

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and we want to find evidence
of past water.

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Okay, what do we need to do that?

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And then this team of different engineers

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has to bring that rover to life.

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ASHITEY TREBI-OLLENNU:
This was my first mission.

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And it was very exciting, you know,

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doing something
that no one has done before.

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I grew up in Ghana, and when I was a kid,
I was very fascinated by radio.

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And I also was curious--
are there people inside the radio?

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So, one day, I opened a radio,
and I was disappointed

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to find there were no people in the radio.

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So that's my fascination with engineering.

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BOYKINS:
For the rover design...

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...it was a deliberate decision
to make the characteristics humanlike.

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TREBI-OLLENNU:
When you're a geologist

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and you're working in the field,
you typically take the rock

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and then break it up to look inside of it.

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So the robot needs the robotic arm

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that has multiple instruments to take
measurements and microscopic images.

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Like a Swiss Army knife.

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SQUYRES: Now, the resolution
of the rovers' cameras is

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the exact equivalent
of human 20/20 vision.

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So, all of a sudden, they start to look
an awful lot like eyeballs.

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BOYKINS: And then the height
of the rover was five foot two.

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That's the average height
of a human being.

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So it would feel like, as the rover
was driving, taking these images,

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that a human being
was walking along the surface.

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ELLISON:
It's just a box of wires, right?

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But you end up with this

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cute-ish-looking robot that has a face.

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TROSPER: So we had these
amazing science instruments,

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but once you put all that stuff
on the rover,

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the mass gets bigger.

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Then this is gonna be a big problem
for landing on Mars.

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But then what I'm trying to look at
is actually literally using

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six little bungee cords
attached here to airbags.

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And the challenge here is that there's
a lot of different ways to do this.

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A lot of different ways to do this.

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We don't know which one is the best,
and we really only get one shot at it.

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TROSPER:
So our landing system

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had these big airbags that inflated.

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And they would bounce it
across the surface.

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MANNING:
The biggest problem right off the bat--

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we started doing the math for how much
the Spirit and Opportunity

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were going to weigh,

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and will those airbags
be able to handle that weight?

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So we started doing tests.

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-What the...?
-This is just dandy.

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-This is not a problem. Yeah.
-No, this is a... this is a good rock.

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-I like this rock.
-Yes.

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TROSPER:
And so we were trying out the airbags

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with the types of rocks
we could encounter on Mars.

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We do the first big drop.

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(laughing):
Huge gaping holes in these airbags

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get ripped by the rocks, and we're like,
"Oh, this is not good.

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Not good at all."

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MANNING: The parachutes were
another story altogether.

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MAN (over speaker):
Three, two, one.

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MANNING: But we did those tests
with this big rocket-shaped payload

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and dropped it out of the sky
from a helicopter.

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First one, the parachute tore to shreds.

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(helicopter blades whirring)

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The second one...

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MAN:
Oh!

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MANNING:
...was torn to shreds.

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And so we realized
we didn't have a working parachute.

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Unfortunately, that chute
that just exploded was the chute

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that we were planning on taking to Mars.

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Cut to the quick.
You're in very, very serious trouble.

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What part of this gives you gas?

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Where are you concerned?

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PETE THEISINGER: There's a list of threats
that these guys have come to me with,

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and I've added all those threats up.

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They go in the category of everything
we can think of that can go wrong.

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I understand your concern...

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TROSPER:
In the back of your mind, you're like,

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"This is a billion-dollar national asset.

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This could be a complete disaster."

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(machine whirring)

246
00:17:20.373 --> 00:17:22.500
MAN (over speaker):
Okay, we're ready.

247
00:17:22.584 --> 00:17:24.085
Here we go.

248
00:17:24.169 --> 00:17:26.171
(vibrating, rattling)

249
00:17:33.178 --> 00:17:35.972
SQUYRES:
So we built Spirit and Opportunity

250
00:17:36.055 --> 00:17:39.309
with the intention
of them being identical twins.

251
00:17:40.810 --> 00:17:42.771
(laughing):
And they kind of started out that way,

252
00:17:42.854 --> 00:17:45.273
but things diverged quickly.

253
00:17:50.779 --> 00:17:52.697
-(vibrating and rattling stop)
-MAN: Okay, we're all clear.

254
00:17:52.781 --> 00:17:55.158
ELLISON:
All the way through assembly and testing,

255
00:17:55.241 --> 00:17:56.826
it was always Spirit

256
00:17:56.910 --> 00:17:59.412
hitting some sort of test first
and she would fail.

257
00:17:59.496 --> 00:18:00.663
(indistinct chatter)

258
00:18:00.747 --> 00:18:03.875
-We lost a bushing.
-We lost a bushing?

259
00:18:03.958 --> 00:18:06.503
Look on… look on the deck.

260
00:18:06.586 --> 00:18:09.714
ELLISON:
And along comes Opportunity.

261
00:18:09.798 --> 00:18:11.424
(laughing):
Everybody... Okay.

262
00:18:12.509 --> 00:18:15.053
Three, two, one.

263
00:18:15.136 --> 00:18:16.471
-(whirring)
-MAN: Oh.

264
00:18:16.554 --> 00:18:18.473
MAN 2:
Ah!

265
00:18:18.556 --> 00:18:20.517
-Thank you.
-(man whistles)

266
00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:23.478
ELLISON: And on every test, Opportunity
came through with flying colors.

267
00:18:25.104 --> 00:18:29.192
So, even before they left this planet,
Spirit was troublesome,

268
00:18:29.275 --> 00:18:31.277
Opportunity was Little Miss Perfect.

269
00:18:35.156 --> 00:18:39.410
BOYKINS: So, after so much time
testing and building our rovers...

270
00:18:40.954 --> 00:18:44.082
...now it's time to put Oppy
on the ground.

271
00:18:44.165 --> 00:18:46.167
♪ ♪

272
00:18:47.585 --> 00:18:50.088
This is the very first time

273
00:18:50.171 --> 00:18:52.632
we breathe life into the rover.

274
00:18:53.716 --> 00:18:55.260
Move.

275
00:19:01.808 --> 00:19:03.434
Her first steps.

276
00:19:05.436 --> 00:19:07.438
I'm getting tingly.

277
00:19:07.522 --> 00:19:10.233
'Cause it was like...
(gasps) "It's alive!"

278
00:19:10.316 --> 00:19:12.318
(applause)

279
00:19:15.488 --> 00:19:19.033
SQUYRES: She becomes
almost like a living thing to you.

280
00:19:21.035 --> 00:19:25.373
A real living robot
that you can imagine going to Mars

281
00:19:25.456 --> 00:19:28.293
and doing the things
that you've dreamed of doing there.

282
00:19:30.295 --> 00:19:33.172
To say it's like a child being born
would be to trivialize parenthood,

283
00:19:33.256 --> 00:19:35.174
but it feels sort of like that.

284
00:19:38.469 --> 00:19:41.723
MANNING:
But you feel like it's not clear

285
00:19:41.806 --> 00:19:45.894
your child is really ready
for this wild and woolly world.

286
00:19:47.645 --> 00:19:50.481
SQUYRES: Had we done
all the testing we wanted to do?

287
00:19:51.941 --> 00:19:53.610
Absolutely not.

288
00:19:56.362 --> 00:19:58.531
But eventually, you just run out of time.

289
00:19:59.616 --> 00:20:01.492
And it was time to fly.

290
00:20:05.246 --> 00:20:07.248
(birds chirping, insects trilling)

291
00:20:08.583 --> 00:20:10.627
BOYKINS:
We're out here at 5:30 in the morning,

292
00:20:10.710 --> 00:20:14.130
but, you know, for us,
this is a lot of time,

293
00:20:14.213 --> 00:20:17.216
lot of hours, lot of sleepless nights
coming together, so...

294
00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:21.179
It's sort of surreal. I don't know
if it's really gonna happen yet.

295
00:20:21.262 --> 00:20:24.557
You know, it's like the whole
butterfly thing going on at this point.

296
00:20:24.641 --> 00:20:26.643
♪ ♪

297
00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:36.986
Lucky peanuts.

298
00:20:38.363 --> 00:20:40.573
TROSPER:
So, Spirit would launch first.

299
00:20:41.741 --> 00:20:44.452
And Opportunity three weeks later.

300
00:20:44.535 --> 00:20:46.579
MARK ADLER:
This is Delta Launch Control at

301
00:20:46.663 --> 00:20:48.289
T-minus eight minutes, 40 seconds,
and counting.

302
00:20:48.373 --> 00:20:52.710
TROSPER: And I was in
the control room for Spirit at JPL.

303
00:20:53.795 --> 00:20:57.256
And I actually like it
when I have a job to do

304
00:20:57.340 --> 00:20:59.342
because then I'm focused

305
00:20:59.425 --> 00:21:02.220
and-and it's a little harder
to get emotional,

306
00:21:02.303 --> 00:21:04.514
because you have something
you have to focus on.

307
00:21:04.597 --> 00:21:09.352
ADLER: This is the final checks
of the Spirit MER-A spacecraft.

308
00:21:09.435 --> 00:21:11.396
TROSPER:
I'm a farm girl from Ohio.

309
00:21:11.479 --> 00:21:14.482
I grew up raising sheep, pigs, cows.

310
00:21:14.565 --> 00:21:17.443
And my dad had worked
in the Army Corps of Engineers...

311
00:21:18.903 --> 00:21:23.741
...on the very first rockets, and he would
just tell these amazing stories.

312
00:21:25.118 --> 00:21:30.581
But aerospace engineering wasn't
something that girls around me did.

313
00:21:32.667 --> 00:21:35.753
So I just couldn't imagine
that I would ever have

314
00:21:35.837 --> 00:21:39.048
the opportunity to send a rover to Mars.

315
00:21:39.132 --> 00:21:41.050
TROSPER (over radio):
MER-2 is go for launch.

316
00:21:41.134 --> 00:21:42.343
MAN (over radio):
Roger.

317
00:21:42.427 --> 00:21:46.347
BOYKINS:
T-minus ten... you start freaking out.

318
00:21:46.431 --> 00:21:49.183
ADLER:
Nine, eight, seven,

319
00:21:49.267 --> 00:21:52.145
six, five, four,

320
00:21:52.228 --> 00:21:54.480
(echoing):
three, two, one.

321
00:21:54.564 --> 00:21:57.358
-BOYKINS: The engines start.
-ADLER: And liftoff!

322
00:21:57.442 --> 00:21:59.235
(rumbling, whooshing)

323
00:21:59.318 --> 00:22:02.071
BOYKINS:
You hear that rocket.

324
00:22:04.699 --> 00:22:06.034
No firecracker, no firecracker,

325
00:22:06.117 --> 00:22:08.036
no firecracker, no firecracker,
no firecracker, no firecracker,

326
00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:10.038
-no firecracker, no firecracker.
-(cheering)

327
00:22:10.121 --> 00:22:12.123
♪ ♪

328
00:22:15.752 --> 00:22:18.629
MAN: Load relief integrated in.
Vehicle's responding.

329
00:22:18.713 --> 00:22:21.674
Vehicle's recovering very nicely
from the liftoff transition.

330
00:22:22.925 --> 00:22:26.345
I don't know whether I shed a tear,
but I think, you know,

331
00:22:26.429 --> 00:22:29.640
this rocket is carrying
my hopes and dreams.

332
00:22:29.724 --> 00:22:31.726
(chuckles):
And, um...

333
00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:34.312
you know, it's very...

334
00:22:34.395 --> 00:22:37.065
it's very difficult to describe. (laughs)

335
00:22:37.148 --> 00:22:40.818
But you-you feel
your life's work in the rocket.

336
00:22:40.902 --> 00:22:44.030
(whooping, whistling)

337
00:22:44.113 --> 00:22:46.115
(cheering, whistling)

338
00:22:47.867 --> 00:22:49.744
BOYKINS:
I have raised this child.

339
00:22:49.827 --> 00:22:51.454
Yeah!

340
00:22:51.537 --> 00:22:53.456
That's sort of what it feels like.

341
00:22:55.249 --> 00:22:57.502
And now it's that child's moment to shine.

342
00:22:59.962 --> 00:23:02.924
SQUYRES:
But it was hard to say goodbye.

343
00:23:04.217 --> 00:23:08.221
I devoted 16 years of my life
to these rovers.

344
00:23:10.014 --> 00:23:12.558
And then you put 'em on top of a rocket

345
00:23:12.642 --> 00:23:15.019
and you shoot 'em into space

346
00:23:15.103 --> 00:23:17.396
and you're never going to see 'em again.

347
00:23:21.901 --> 00:23:23.736
TROSPER:
For Opportunity,

348
00:23:23.820 --> 00:23:26.572
I was out with my, uh, family,
and we were watching

349
00:23:26.656 --> 00:23:31.202
from the same launchpad that my dad
had launched his missions from.

350
00:23:33.538 --> 00:23:35.790
And he had since passed away.

351
00:23:37.083 --> 00:23:42.004
And he was the proudest dad anybody...
anybody could ever have.

352
00:23:42.088 --> 00:23:46.676
It was just very emotional--
for me, for my mom, for my family--

353
00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:51.055
to just see how he had encouraged
and inspired me

354
00:23:51.139 --> 00:23:53.391
to do space exploration.

355
00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:08.281
(whooshing)

356
00:24:10.575 --> 00:24:14.996
BOYKINS: The travel time to Mars
for both rovers was six and a half months.

357
00:24:18.541 --> 00:24:21.252
Spirit and Opportunity were only
three weeks behind each other,

358
00:24:21.335 --> 00:24:24.088
so they're not super far apart
in celestial terms.

359
00:24:25.423 --> 00:24:28.676
So we have a trajectory to Mars,
and we want to make sure

360
00:24:28.759 --> 00:24:31.596
that we are following that road to Mars
as we move along.

361
00:24:36.309 --> 00:24:40.396
It's like you're in Los Angeles
and you want to hit a golf ball

362
00:24:40.479 --> 00:24:41.981
to hit a door handle
at Buckingham Palace,

363
00:24:42.064 --> 00:24:43.399
and that's what we're trying to do.

364
00:24:46.027 --> 00:24:48.446
BOYKINS:
We call it the quiescent period.

365
00:24:48.529 --> 00:24:51.741
Six and a half months of quiescent time,
nothing going on.

366
00:24:51.824 --> 00:24:54.702
Well, that's not exactly true.

367
00:24:54.785 --> 00:24:57.955
(explosive booming)

368
00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:01.500
MANNING:
We got hit by the largest series

369
00:25:01.584 --> 00:25:04.295
of solar flares
that had ever been seen before.

370
00:25:05.379 --> 00:25:09.884
And we saw this big ejection
of the sun's energies and particles

371
00:25:09.967 --> 00:25:11.969
racing toward our spacecraft.

372
00:25:12.053 --> 00:25:14.055
♪ ♪

373
00:25:19.894 --> 00:25:22.104
TREBI-OLLENNU:
Throughout solar flares,

374
00:25:22.188 --> 00:25:26.400
the sun releases bursts of plasma.

375
00:25:28.861 --> 00:25:32.990
Plasma is a highly charged
cloud of electrons.

376
00:25:34.492 --> 00:25:38.829
MANNING: And the energetic particles,
which could actually kill a human,

377
00:25:38.913 --> 00:25:41.457
they go slamming right into our rovers.

378
00:25:42.541 --> 00:25:45.378
All the way in to the computer.

379
00:25:50.091 --> 00:25:51.884
BOYKINS:
Really bad for spacecraft.

380
00:25:51.968 --> 00:25:53.970
(rattling)

381
00:25:55.721 --> 00:25:58.724
MANNING: Now software we put on board
had been corrupted.

382
00:26:01.143 --> 00:26:03.271
So we had to reboot both rovers.

383
00:26:07.316 --> 00:26:10.569
BOYKINS: So we told our Johnny Fives
to go to sleep.

384
00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:13.489
This is really scary.

385
00:26:15.741 --> 00:26:20.413
TROSPER: So you're loading this
new version of software up on the vehicles

386
00:26:20.496 --> 00:26:22.164
and transitioning to it.

387
00:26:22.248 --> 00:26:24.500
You know, control, alt, delete,
hoping it all works.

388
00:26:24.583 --> 00:26:26.502
♪ ♪

389
00:26:26.585 --> 00:26:27.962
(whirring)

390
00:26:28.045 --> 00:26:29.922
(beeping)

391
00:26:30.006 --> 00:26:31.799
(powering up)

392
00:26:32.883 --> 00:26:34.885
(clicking, whirring)

393
00:26:36.929 --> 00:26:39.724
MANNING:
It worked. They rebooted.

394
00:26:42.310 --> 00:26:45.563
And it took us a couple of weeks
to clean up our computers.

395
00:26:48.149 --> 00:26:50.568
By then, the sun had calmed down,

396
00:26:50.651 --> 00:26:54.530
the software was loaded,
and we were ready to land on Mars.

397
00:27:00.536 --> 00:27:02.955
SQUYRES:
But at that time,

398
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:06.500
two thirds of missions to Mars had failed.

399
00:27:08.294 --> 00:27:11.797
Mars was a spacecraft graveyard...
(chuckles) when we flew.

400
00:27:11.881 --> 00:27:13.883
(whooshing)

401
00:27:15.593 --> 00:27:19.680
A few years before,
NASA launched two missions to Mars,

402
00:27:19.764 --> 00:27:22.350
Mars Polar Lander
and Mars Climate Orbiter.

403
00:27:22.433 --> 00:27:24.769
(explosion)

404
00:27:24.852 --> 00:27:26.270
Both failed.

405
00:27:27.813 --> 00:27:29.857
One burned up in the atmosphere.

406
00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:31.817
The other one crashed on the surface.

407
00:27:33.152 --> 00:27:34.779
BOYKINS:
Mars Climate Orbiter--

408
00:27:34.862 --> 00:27:36.364
it was a communication error.

409
00:27:36.447 --> 00:27:40.743
We were converting
what was given to us in English--

410
00:27:40.826 --> 00:27:42.995
we thought it was given to us in metric.

411
00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.831
And that's ridiculously embarrassing.

412
00:27:45.915 --> 00:27:48.709
Big news from outer space,
ladies and gentlemen.

413
00:27:48.793 --> 00:27:53.464
Apparently now, scientists claim
there is no intelligent life...

414
00:27:53.547 --> 00:27:55.800
-at NASA. Yeah.
-(laughter)

415
00:27:55.883 --> 00:27:57.051
Couldn't find it.

416
00:27:57.134 --> 00:28:00.930
SQUYRES:
And so all eyes were kind of on us.

417
00:28:03.265 --> 00:28:08.062
Our team felt that Spirit and Opportunity

418
00:28:08.145 --> 00:28:10.689
needed to be a mission of redemption.

419
00:28:13.275 --> 00:28:17.279
BOYKINS:
As part of the team, we felt as though,

420
00:28:17.363 --> 00:28:19.824
if this landing didn't succeed...

421
00:28:20.991 --> 00:28:23.160
...this might be the end of NASA.

422
00:28:26.080 --> 00:28:29.583
Good evening, everyone,
and welcome to what promises to be

423
00:28:29.667 --> 00:28:33.546
both an exciting and eventful night
here at JPL.

424
00:28:33.629 --> 00:28:36.799
This is live coverage
of Spirit's landing on Mars...

425
00:28:36.882 --> 00:28:39.510
Live coverage
of Opportunity's landing on Mars.

426
00:28:39.593 --> 00:28:43.806
And tonight, the navigation team says
all systems are go.

427
00:28:44.098 --> 00:28:45.891
♪ ♪

428
00:28:48.310 --> 00:28:51.605
TROSPER: Spirit and Opportunity were
going to land on opposite sides of Mars

429
00:28:51.689 --> 00:28:53.274
three weeks apart.

430
00:28:55.734 --> 00:28:58.028
The anxiety is very high.

431
00:28:58.112 --> 00:29:02.324
I don't know at what point I, uh,
went on blood pressure medication.

432
00:29:03.409 --> 00:29:06.203
WAYNE LEE (over radio): And a pleasant
good evening to the flight deck.

433
00:29:06.287 --> 00:29:09.623
Our current speed is
11,320 miles per hour,

434
00:29:09.707 --> 00:29:12.376
which is fast enough to traverse
a distance equal to the United States

435
00:29:12.460 --> 00:29:13.878
in 12 minutes.

436
00:29:13.961 --> 00:29:17.381
At this time, we'd like to invite you
to sit back and enjoy the landing.

437
00:29:20.634 --> 00:29:22.761
BOYKINS:
So, entry, descent, landing.

438
00:29:24.013 --> 00:29:27.892
It's approximately 86 events where,
if one thing goes wrong...

439
00:29:27.975 --> 00:29:29.977
(whooshing)

440
00:29:30.060 --> 00:29:31.687
...we will lose the rovers.

441
00:29:33.022 --> 00:29:35.733
It's the scariest thing
you can ever think of,

442
00:29:35.816 --> 00:29:38.110
because the communication time

443
00:29:38.194 --> 00:29:41.572
from the rover saying, "Hey,
I'm doing this," to Earth is ten minutes.

444
00:29:44.783 --> 00:29:47.786
There is nothing you can do

445
00:29:47.870 --> 00:29:49.663
other than hope they'd survive.

446
00:29:49.747 --> 00:29:52.458
TROSPER:
We call it the six minutes of terror...

447
00:29:52.541 --> 00:29:56.045
is the time from when the spacecraft

448
00:29:56.128 --> 00:29:58.506
enters the top of the Martian atmosphere

449
00:29:58.589 --> 00:30:03.677
until it does all the autonomous--
all on its own-- activities it needs to do

450
00:30:03.761 --> 00:30:06.013
to get safely landed on the ground.

451
00:30:06.096 --> 00:30:07.973
LEE (over radio):
Atmospheric entry in...

452
00:30:08.057 --> 00:30:10.351
three, two, one.

453
00:30:10.434 --> 00:30:12.978
(whooshing)

454
00:30:13.062 --> 00:30:16.607
TROSPER: Everything is on the line
in the six minutes of terror.

455
00:30:16.690 --> 00:30:18.984
LEE: The vehicle is now
at the top of the Martian atmosphere.

456
00:30:19.068 --> 00:30:21.946
At the time of peak heating,
the heat shield will be heated

457
00:30:22.029 --> 00:30:24.615
to temperatures upwards
of 1600 degrees Celsius.

458
00:30:24.698 --> 00:30:26.909
(wind whistling)

459
00:30:26.992 --> 00:30:28.744
BOYKINS:
Parachute opens.

460
00:30:29.745 --> 00:30:30.996
Slows you down more.

461
00:30:31.080 --> 00:30:33.332
LEE (over radio):
Current velocity is 446 miles per hour.

462
00:30:33.415 --> 00:30:36.085
At this time, we expect
the vehicle has gone subsonic.

463
00:30:38.921 --> 00:30:41.549
BOYKINS: You have this thing
called the heat shield that's super hot,

464
00:30:41.632 --> 00:30:43.467
and you have to get rid of it.

465
00:30:45.469 --> 00:30:48.472
MANNING:
But now the hard part begins.

466
00:30:48.556 --> 00:30:53.227
The lander has to rappel down
on a 20-meter rope.

467
00:30:54.520 --> 00:30:56.855
BOYKINS: So now you have a parachute,
you have this back shell,

468
00:30:56.939 --> 00:30:58.607
you have this lander.

469
00:31:01.860 --> 00:31:03.779
The airbags inflate.

470
00:31:08.033 --> 00:31:11.453
At 40 feet,
the back shell fires retro-rockets,

471
00:31:11.537 --> 00:31:14.248
slows the rover down
to zero miles per hour

472
00:31:14.331 --> 00:31:16.250
and then cuts the last cord.

473
00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:25.134
(quiet chatter)

474
00:31:25.217 --> 00:31:27.094
LEE (over radio):
We won't see a signal at the moment.

475
00:31:27.177 --> 00:31:30.389
MAN: We saw an intermittent signal
that indicated we were bouncing.

476
00:31:30.472 --> 00:31:34.602
However... however, we currently
do not have signal from the spacecraft.

477
00:31:34.685 --> 00:31:36.353
LEE:
Please stand by.

478
00:31:42.610 --> 00:31:44.903
MANNING:
Spirit vanishes.

479
00:31:46.572 --> 00:31:48.949
The signal goes away.

480
00:31:50.034 --> 00:31:51.910
Completely gone.

481
00:31:53.245 --> 00:31:55.247
In other words, she may have crashed.

482
00:32:02.463 --> 00:32:04.131
BOYKINS:
Silence.

483
00:32:05.299 --> 00:32:07.301
Everybody waiting for a signal.

484
00:32:08.385 --> 00:32:10.220
Everybody waiting for something.

485
00:32:12.431 --> 00:32:14.433
(takes deep breath)

486
00:32:15.934 --> 00:32:18.979
MANNING: I was thinking
that we did all of this in vain.

487
00:32:20.397 --> 00:32:22.524
That maybe we lost this mission.

488
00:32:22.608 --> 00:32:24.777
♪ ♪

489
00:32:30.324 --> 00:32:32.159
POLLY ESTABROOK:
Do you see it? Do you see it?

490
00:32:32.242 --> 00:32:34.203
-Do you see it?
-What do we see? -W-W-Wait, wait.

491
00:32:34.286 --> 00:32:35.871
(cheering, excited chatter)

492
00:32:35.954 --> 00:32:37.414
It's there, Rob!

493
00:32:37.498 --> 00:32:39.958
(excited chattering)

494
00:32:40.042 --> 00:32:42.002
LEE (over radio):
We have a very strong signal

495
00:32:42.086 --> 00:32:43.879
in the left-hand polarization channel,

496
00:32:43.962 --> 00:32:46.423
indicating that… (continues indistinctly)

497
00:32:46.507 --> 00:32:48.759
(excited chattering)

498
00:32:48.842 --> 00:32:50.844
MANNING (over radio):
We're on Mars, everybody.

499
00:33:00.604 --> 00:33:02.856
You see us jumping up and down.

500
00:33:02.940 --> 00:33:04.942
We're not jumping for joy.

501
00:33:05.025 --> 00:33:06.819
We're jumping for relief.

502
00:33:09.822 --> 00:33:12.825
Both rovers landed safely
on the surface of Mars.

503
00:33:15.077 --> 00:33:17.079
(excited chatter)

504
00:33:18.414 --> 00:33:20.541
The signal's going up and down.
It means that...

505
00:33:20.624 --> 00:33:22.334
(chatter continues indistinctly)

506
00:33:27.464 --> 00:33:29.591
NARRATOR:
Spirit rover diary.

507
00:33:29.675 --> 00:33:33.887
January 4, 2004. Sol one.

508
00:33:45.399 --> 00:33:47.609
♪ ♪

509
00:33:47.693 --> 00:33:50.112
CHRIS LEWICKI (over radio): Ladies and
gentlemen, you are privileged to be

510
00:33:50.195 --> 00:33:52.906
in one of the most exciting rooms on Earth
at the moment.

511
00:33:53.991 --> 00:33:55.951
ABIGAIL FRAEMAN:
I was actually a high school student

512
00:33:56.034 --> 00:33:57.911
when Opportunity landed.

513
00:33:58.162 --> 00:33:59.997
I was selected, um,

514
00:34:00.080 --> 00:34:02.207
as one of 16 students
from around the world...

515
00:34:03.542 --> 00:34:07.546
...to be in the mission control room
with the science team

516
00:34:07.629 --> 00:34:10.007
when Oppy sent down her first images.

517
00:34:10.090 --> 00:34:12.134
MAN (over radio):
Full Navcams are coming down now.

518
00:34:12.217 --> 00:34:13.844
Full Navcams.

519
00:34:13.927 --> 00:34:15.929
(applause)

520
00:34:18.265 --> 00:34:19.391
LEWICKI (over radio):
Wow!

521
00:34:19.475 --> 00:34:21.393
We are on Mars.

522
00:34:21.477 --> 00:34:23.437
(cheering)

523
00:34:29.693 --> 00:34:34.072
TROSPER: When those first
images come, the relief...

524
00:34:34.156 --> 00:34:38.160
the relief, you know, the level
of my bl-blood pressure going back down.

525
00:34:42.539 --> 00:34:44.374
Then we're all on cloud nine.

526
00:34:46.210 --> 00:34:48.796
(squealing excitedly, laughing)

527
00:34:52.841 --> 00:34:54.343
(sighs)

528
00:34:54.426 --> 00:34:56.220
My child has arrived.

529
00:34:56.303 --> 00:34:57.471
(laughs) It's...

530
00:34:57.554 --> 00:34:58.889
♪ Ah... ♪

531
00:35:02.142 --> 00:35:03.727
Welcome to Mars.

532
00:35:08.565 --> 00:35:12.194
NARRATOR:
Opportunity rover diary. Sol one.

533
00:35:13.987 --> 00:35:16.949
The signal from the vehicle
is solid and strong.

534
00:35:17.991 --> 00:35:20.953
Opportunity is on Mars.

535
00:35:21.036 --> 00:35:22.955
♪ ♪

536
00:35:23.038 --> 00:35:25.040
(whirring)

537
00:35:44.142 --> 00:35:46.854
(buzzes, beeps)

538
00:35:46.937 --> 00:35:51.525
BOYKINS: Opportunity landed in a small
little crater in the Meridiani Planes.

539
00:35:52.985 --> 00:35:56.405
And it was a 300-million-mile hole in one.

540
00:35:58.407 --> 00:36:01.326
NARRATOR:
Pancam, Navcam and Hazcams

541
00:36:01.410 --> 00:36:04.788
are all returning spectacular images.

542
00:36:08.500 --> 00:36:10.586
What in God's name are we looking at?

543
00:36:10.669 --> 00:36:12.713
(rover beeps, buzzes)

544
00:36:14.673 --> 00:36:16.967
SQUYRES:
I will attempt no science analysis,

545
00:36:17.050 --> 00:36:19.261
'cause it looks like nothing
I've ever seen before in my life.

546
00:36:19.344 --> 00:36:21.263
(laughter)

547
00:36:21.346 --> 00:36:24.474
As we had expected, holy smokes.

548
00:36:24.558 --> 00:36:27.853
I'm sorry, I'm just... (stammers, sighs)

549
00:36:27.936 --> 00:36:30.397
(laughter)

550
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:32.482
I got no words for this.

551
00:36:35.819 --> 00:36:39.823
There was this dark sand everywhere.

552
00:36:42.117 --> 00:36:47.372
And then poking out in the distance
were these light-colored rocks.

553
00:36:48.290 --> 00:36:50.459
They were jumping up and down and saying,

554
00:36:50.542 --> 00:36:53.754
"Oh, my gosh, that's bedrock, you guys.
I see bedrock."

555
00:36:53.837 --> 00:36:56.048
And, you know, of course,
I didn't know what that meant.

556
00:36:56.131 --> 00:36:57.674
I didn't know why that was important.

557
00:36:57.758 --> 00:37:00.010
But I don't think
I slept a wink that night.

558
00:37:00.093 --> 00:37:01.511
It was so exciting.

559
00:37:06.183 --> 00:37:09.144
NARRATOR: It's the stuff that
can tell you what happened right here

560
00:37:09.227 --> 00:37:12.356
in this exact place long ago.

561
00:37:15.067 --> 00:37:17.069
(beeps, whirs)

562
00:37:18.487 --> 00:37:20.489
(beeping)

563
00:37:22.824 --> 00:37:25.452
NARRATOR: Hundreds upon hundreds
of people around the world

564
00:37:25.535 --> 00:37:27.371
have worked on this project.

565
00:37:28.914 --> 00:37:33.210
And it all had to go perfectly
to make this moment happen.

566
00:37:35.253 --> 00:37:37.255
♪ ♪

567
00:37:43.887 --> 00:37:46.556
(beeping)

568
00:37:48.266 --> 00:37:52.312
Spirit's alive, Opportunity landed safely,

569
00:37:52.396 --> 00:37:56.108
and we've got real bedrock
in front of us at Meridiani.

570
00:37:57.401 --> 00:38:00.278
Now it's time for sleep.

571
00:38:04.241 --> 00:38:05.409
(birds chirping)

572
00:38:05.492 --> 00:38:06.618
REPORTER:
Hello, everyone.

573
00:38:06.702 --> 00:38:10.205
This is a big day for the rover on Mars.

574
00:38:10.288 --> 00:38:14.459
And it's ready to do exactly
what it was designed to do

575
00:38:14.543 --> 00:38:16.670
and be a robotic geologist.

576
00:38:18.171 --> 00:38:22.009
Per custom, our morning
wake-up song is coming right up.

577
00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:26.221
("Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf playing)

578
00:38:30.934 --> 00:38:32.894
♪ Get your motor runnin' ♪

579
00:38:34.229 --> 00:38:36.356
♪ Head out on the highway... ♪

580
00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:39.151
SQUYRES:
A tradition in human spaceflight...

581
00:38:40.235 --> 00:38:42.487
...has been to wake the crew up.

582
00:38:42.571 --> 00:38:45.407
The crew wake-up song,
which they would play music.

583
00:38:45.490 --> 00:38:47.325
You know, "Wake up, guys.
It's time to get to work."

584
00:38:47.409 --> 00:38:49.411
("Born to Be Wild" guitar riff playing)

585
00:38:51.246 --> 00:38:54.791
♪ Born to be wild... ♪

586
00:38:54.875 --> 00:38:58.045
STROUPE:
The Martian day-- we call it a sol--

587
00:38:58.128 --> 00:39:01.339
is about 40 minutes longer
than an Earth day.

588
00:39:01.423 --> 00:39:05.469
So your schedule is shifting
by about an hour every single day.

589
00:39:06.553 --> 00:39:08.263
SQUYRES:
We were all living on Mars time.

590
00:39:09.347 --> 00:39:11.349
And it was a tough way to live

591
00:39:11.433 --> 00:39:15.353
'cause, you know, the daily planning
meeting today is gonna start at noon,

592
00:39:15.437 --> 00:39:19.483
and two and a half weeks later,
we started a new day at midnight.

593
00:39:19.566 --> 00:39:21.193
♪ We were born, born to be wild... ♪

594
00:39:21.276 --> 00:39:24.404
TROSPER:
And so we were tired, we were jet-lagged,

595
00:39:24.488 --> 00:39:26.156
and we needed to wake up, too.

596
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:29.117
♪ I never wanna die ♪

597
00:39:30.285 --> 00:39:34.289
(playing faintly over speaker):
♪ Born to be wild... ♪

598
00:39:34.372 --> 00:39:36.875
(clicking, whirring)

599
00:39:36.958 --> 00:39:39.294
TROSPER:
And now we were on this 90-sol race

600
00:39:39.377 --> 00:39:43.465
to find out as much
as we could about Mars.

601
00:39:43.548 --> 00:39:45.801
♪ ♪

602
00:39:45.884 --> 00:39:49.054
SQUYRES: We picked the Spirit
landing site, Gusev Crater,

603
00:39:49.137 --> 00:39:53.809
that looked like it had a huge,
dried-up riverbed flowing into it,

604
00:39:53.892 --> 00:39:58.396
and we went there hoping to find
evidence of past water

605
00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:00.690
and past habitability.

606
00:40:01.858 --> 00:40:04.903
I mean, there has to have been
a lake in Gusev Crater

607
00:40:04.986 --> 00:40:06.613
at one time.

608
00:40:12.285 --> 00:40:16.748
FRAEMAN: But all Spirit found
was this prison of lava rocks.

609
00:40:16.832 --> 00:40:18.834
(beeping, whirring)

610
00:40:25.298 --> 00:40:28.051
No evidence at all for any interaction
with water on these rocks.

611
00:40:29.845 --> 00:40:31.847
(clicking, beeping)

612
00:40:37.477 --> 00:40:40.480
ELLISON:
On the other side of Mars,

613
00:40:40.564 --> 00:40:44.526
Opportunity's landing site was unlike
anything we'd ever seen before.

614
00:40:48.530 --> 00:40:51.199
NARRATOR:
Opportunity. Sol eight.

615
00:40:51.283 --> 00:40:53.994
We've gotten down
the first images of the soil

616
00:40:54.077 --> 00:40:56.246
right in front of the rover.

617
00:40:56.329 --> 00:41:00.041
It's the strangest-looking thing
we've ever seen on Mars.

618
00:41:02.419 --> 00:41:06.256
SQUYRES: So it turns out
the surface of Mars at this location

619
00:41:06.339 --> 00:41:08.049
is covered by

620
00:41:08.133 --> 00:41:12.345
an uncountable number
of little round... things.

621
00:41:12.429 --> 00:41:13.555
(chuckles)

622
00:41:13.638 --> 00:41:15.640
(whirring)

623
00:41:18.935 --> 00:41:21.146
And when she got to the outcrop...

624
00:41:22.314 --> 00:41:25.442
...these little round things
were embedded in the rock

625
00:41:25.525 --> 00:41:27.527
like blueberries in a muffin.

626
00:41:35.869 --> 00:41:39.206
FRAEMAN: And it turns out the composition
of these little blueberries

627
00:41:39.289 --> 00:41:42.584
was a mineral called hematite,

628
00:41:42.667 --> 00:41:45.128
which is a mineral that often forms
in the presence of water.

629
00:41:45.212 --> 00:41:47.214
(applause, cheering)

630
00:41:52.052 --> 00:41:55.722
SQUYRES: From the mineralogy,
from the geochemistry,

631
00:41:55.805 --> 00:41:58.892
everything that we needed

632
00:41:58.975 --> 00:42:03.897
to come to a reasonable conclusion
that there was once water on Mars

633
00:42:03.980 --> 00:42:07.567
was right there
in the walls of Eagle Crater.

634
00:42:08.944 --> 00:42:10.862
But...

635
00:42:10.946 --> 00:42:13.240
this is a very acidic environment.

636
00:42:14.783 --> 00:42:17.619
Not a place where life
could have developed.

637
00:42:18.620 --> 00:42:21.581
So, yes, there had been liquid water,

638
00:42:21.665 --> 00:42:24.376
but this wasn't water
that you or I would want to drink.

639
00:42:24.459 --> 00:42:26.461
(beeping, whirring)

640
00:42:30.382 --> 00:42:32.801
It was basically like battery acid.

641
00:42:35.553 --> 00:42:37.555
You would not want
to put your toes in there.

642
00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:39.683
You probably wouldn't have
any toes left if you did.

643
00:42:46.314 --> 00:42:51.569
What you really want is nice, flowing,
neutral-pH groundwater.

644
00:42:54.197 --> 00:42:57.450
And so to go and find
a story of habitability...

645
00:42:59.411 --> 00:43:01.621
...you've got to go
on a bit of a road trip.

646
00:43:04.958 --> 00:43:07.585
But the problem is

647
00:43:07.669 --> 00:43:10.964
these rovers only have 90 days to live.

648
00:43:24.769 --> 00:43:29.274
VANDI VERMA: Rover drivers are those of us
who operate the rover on Mars.

649
00:43:30.567 --> 00:43:32.944
(quiet chatter)

650
00:43:33.028 --> 00:43:35.322
It's such a fun job, but you can't

651
00:43:35.405 --> 00:43:37.365
just use a steering wheel to drive it.

652
00:43:38.450 --> 00:43:41.745
Because it takes anywhere
from four minutes to 20 minutes

653
00:43:41.828 --> 00:43:44.664
for a signal to reach Mars.

654
00:43:44.748 --> 00:43:48.460
So we'd send the commands,
we then go off and sleep...

655
00:43:50.170 --> 00:43:53.256
...and then the rover will execute
the drive that day.

656
00:43:53.340 --> 00:43:55.633
And by the time the drive is done,

657
00:43:55.717 --> 00:43:57.677
we come back
and we get the results of that

658
00:43:57.761 --> 00:43:59.596
and start planning again.

659
00:44:00.972 --> 00:44:03.099
I grew up in India.

660
00:44:03.183 --> 00:44:05.685
And when I was about seven years old,

661
00:44:05.769 --> 00:44:08.813
somebody gave me this book
which was about space exploration,

662
00:44:08.897 --> 00:44:10.648
and I was just blown away.

663
00:44:12.525 --> 00:44:15.195
Did you see how close we get
to that rock in the beginning?

664
00:44:15.278 --> 00:44:19.324
During the mission,
I was pregnant with the twins.

665
00:44:19.407 --> 00:44:23.828
And so it was a different way
for me to relate to the twin rovers.

666
00:44:23.912 --> 00:44:27.207
I thought about these two beings that are

667
00:44:27.290 --> 00:44:29.626
so connected and so similar

668
00:44:29.709 --> 00:44:33.129
and yet are going to have
completely independent lives.

669
00:44:35.924 --> 00:44:38.051
The rovers have their own personality,

670
00:44:38.134 --> 00:44:42.806
and it's hard for me to pick
which one of them is my favorite.

671
00:44:42.889 --> 00:44:44.516
Can't really pick one, you know.

672
00:44:44.599 --> 00:44:46.601
It's sort of like this twin thing.
(laughs)

673
00:44:50.188 --> 00:44:52.482
(indistinct chatter)

674
00:44:54.859 --> 00:44:59.406
TROSPER: In Gusev Crater,
Spirit was in a much colder site.

675
00:44:59.489 --> 00:45:03.159
Opportunity was at the equator,
kind of like the vacation spot on Mars.

676
00:45:04.536 --> 00:45:08.373
And so Spirit just had
a tougher mission ahead of her.

677
00:45:12.127 --> 00:45:16.923
BOYKINS: And so Spirit,
she finds this rock we dubbed Adirondack.

678
00:45:21.386 --> 00:45:23.513
She touches the rock.

679
00:45:23.596 --> 00:45:25.890
(beeping)

680
00:45:28.518 --> 00:45:30.437
And she doesn't call home.

681
00:45:31.521 --> 00:45:35.108
(indistinct radio chatter)

682
00:45:35.191 --> 00:45:37.777
Uh, yes, sir, I'm not seeing
anything from our displays.

683
00:45:37.861 --> 00:45:39.988
Um, you're not seeing
any signal at this time?

684
00:45:44.993 --> 00:45:47.370
-MAN (over radio): Uh, that's a negative.
-Copy.

685
00:45:51.875 --> 00:45:54.878
TROSPER:
I was one of Spirit's mission managers.

686
00:45:54.961 --> 00:45:58.798
And so I didn't go home for several days.

687
00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:04.345
We're all kind of somber
in the mission support area

688
00:46:04.429 --> 00:46:09.350
where we're commanding Spirit and trying
to get any information from her.

689
00:46:09.434 --> 00:46:11.728
(indistinct radio chatter)

690
00:46:11.811 --> 00:46:17.108
And Mark Adler was picking
the wake-up song for the day.

691
00:46:18.193 --> 00:46:20.445
And I was just like,
"Oh, do we have to play a wake-up song?"

692
00:46:20.528 --> 00:46:23.198
You know, I was just worried about Spirit.

693
00:46:24.240 --> 00:46:27.869
You know, the fun part of the wake-up song
was lost on me at that point.

694
00:46:30.371 --> 00:46:32.207
ADLER (over speaker):
And all stations, this is mission.

695
00:46:32.290 --> 00:46:35.585
Uh, today is not the day
to buck a tradition, I think,

696
00:46:35.668 --> 00:46:37.712
so we're gonna play a song.

697
00:46:39.172 --> 00:46:41.799
("S.O.S." by ABBA playing)

698
00:46:47.013 --> 00:46:49.015
♪ Where are those happy days? ♪

699
00:46:49.098 --> 00:46:51.935
♪ They seem so hard to find ♪

700
00:46:53.102 --> 00:46:55.188
♪ I tried to reach for you ♪

701
00:46:55.271 --> 00:46:58.983
♪ But you have closed your mind ♪

702
00:46:59.067 --> 00:47:03.196
♪ Whatever happened to our love? ♪

703
00:47:03.279 --> 00:47:05.907
♪ I wish I understood ♪

704
00:47:07.325 --> 00:47:09.410
♪ It used to be so nice ♪

705
00:47:09.494 --> 00:47:11.496
♪ It used to be so good ♪

706
00:47:15.041 --> 00:47:18.503
♪ So when you're near me,
darling, can't you hear me? ♪

707
00:47:18.586 --> 00:47:20.421
♪ S.O.S. ♪

708
00:47:21.422 --> 00:47:23.091
(chuckling)

709
00:47:23.174 --> 00:47:26.302
♪ The love you gave me,
nothing else can save me ♪

710
00:47:26.386 --> 00:47:28.346
♪ S.O.S. ♪

711
00:47:29.597 --> 00:47:31.724
♪ When you're gone ♪

712
00:47:31.808 --> 00:47:35.478
♪ Though I try, how can I carry on? ♪

713
00:47:41.818 --> 00:47:43.820
TROSPER:
I thought, "What a perfect song."

714
00:47:45.029 --> 00:47:47.323
ABBA, "S.O.S."

715
00:47:48.700 --> 00:47:50.618
(whirring, beeping)

716
00:47:50.702 --> 00:47:52.704
("S.O.S." continues faintly over speaker)

717
00:47:52.787 --> 00:47:56.708
NARRATOR: We got back a beep,
but Spirit's a very sick rover.

718
00:47:58.293 --> 00:48:02.463
Her flash memory on board the vehicle
has somehow become corrupted,

719
00:48:02.547 --> 00:48:05.466
so she's been awake
through the last two nights,

720
00:48:05.550 --> 00:48:08.678
crashing and rebooting over and over.

721
00:48:08.761 --> 00:48:11.097
She's up all night.
She's like the teenage kid

722
00:48:11.180 --> 00:48:13.474
who just can't stop,
can't stop playing their video game.

723
00:48:13.558 --> 00:48:15.602
I mean, she was just going
and going and going.

724
00:48:15.685 --> 00:48:18.771
Until her batteries were almost drained.

725
00:48:21.357 --> 00:48:25.111
So we said,
"Let's try to get her shut down."

726
00:48:26.112 --> 00:48:29.532
But we gave her
the gentle shutdown command,

727
00:48:29.616 --> 00:48:31.242
and she wouldn't shut down.

728
00:48:32.327 --> 00:48:34.787
And so we started to get
a little panicked,

729
00:48:34.871 --> 00:48:38.374
'cause now we have to send Spirit
a "shut down, damn it."

730
00:48:38.458 --> 00:48:40.418
It's a command that,
no matter what else happens,

731
00:48:40.501 --> 00:48:42.712
it makes the rover shut down.

732
00:48:42.795 --> 00:48:47.133
MAN (over speaker): 1-4-2 decimal alpha,
decimal shut-down-damn-it until 24 hours.

733
00:48:48.051 --> 00:48:50.053
("S.O.S." continues)

734
00:48:54.098 --> 00:48:57.560
MANNING: We were about ready
to tell the world that we had lost Spirit.

735
00:48:57.644 --> 00:48:58.645
(indistinct radio chatter)

736
00:48:58.728 --> 00:49:00.688
But then, suddenly...

737
00:49:00.772 --> 00:49:03.274
-WOMAN (over radio): Go ahead, Telecom.
-Can confirm data is flowing.

738
00:49:03.358 --> 00:49:06.152
(cheering, applause)

739
00:49:06.235 --> 00:49:09.322
NARRATOR:
After a few nights of severe insomnia,

740
00:49:09.405 --> 00:49:11.157
the rover is now sleeping peacefully.

741
00:49:11.240 --> 00:49:12.992
Go power! (laughs)

742
00:49:13.076 --> 00:49:15.787
NARRATOR:
Spirit is back.

743
00:49:15.870 --> 00:49:17.914
Like a well-oiled machine, isn't it?

744
00:49:17.997 --> 00:49:20.333
-(laughter)
-(song ends)

745
00:49:22.126 --> 00:49:24.128
SQUYRES (over TV):
...is kind of an estimate.

746
00:49:24.420 --> 00:49:27.715
The thing that's ultimately gonna limit
the lifetime of these vehicles

747
00:49:27.799 --> 00:49:30.426
is buildup of dust on the solar arrays.

748
00:49:30.510 --> 00:49:33.721
You can think of 90 sols
as being when the warranty expires.

749
00:49:33.805 --> 00:49:36.140
Okay, that's how long
the mission is intended to last.

750
00:49:36.224 --> 00:49:38.768
We expect to get
at least 90 sols out of it.

751
00:49:38.851 --> 00:49:41.979
How much more than that we get
depends on what Mars gives us.

752
00:49:42.063 --> 00:49:44.065
(whirring)

753
00:49:45.149 --> 00:49:48.820
TROSPER: We were concerned
that after 90 sols on Mars

754
00:49:48.903 --> 00:49:53.491
Spirit and Opportunity would not
have enough power

755
00:49:53.574 --> 00:49:56.160
and that would be the way
that the rovers died.

756
00:49:56.244 --> 00:49:58.246
♪ ♪

757
00:50:00.081 --> 00:50:02.083
(beeping)

758
00:50:03.126 --> 00:50:05.920
(whirring)

759
00:50:06.003 --> 00:50:08.005
(beeping)

760
00:50:12.135 --> 00:50:13.594
(beeping)

761
00:50:16.597 --> 00:50:18.599
(wind howling)

762
00:50:24.313 --> 00:50:26.691
TROSPER:
And then we see these dust devils,

763
00:50:26.774 --> 00:50:31.112
and we were concerned about what
they could do to Spirit and Opportunity.

764
00:50:36.159 --> 00:50:37.785
MANNING:
We'd taken this picture

765
00:50:37.869 --> 00:50:40.663
some weeks before, and it was getting
really, really red and dusty.

766
00:50:40.747 --> 00:50:42.915
You could barely see
the solar panels anymore.

767
00:50:44.167 --> 00:50:46.169
But the morning after the dust devil,

768
00:50:46.252 --> 00:50:48.254
it's like somebody came along with Windex.

769
00:50:48.337 --> 00:50:50.381
(imitates bottle spraying)

770
00:50:50.465 --> 00:50:54.260
And the solar panels were as clean
as the day that we landed.

771
00:51:01.058 --> 00:51:05.021
TROSPER: Turns out these dust devils were
the best friends these rovers had.

772
00:51:09.859 --> 00:51:12.862
TREBI-OLLENNU: They were literally
our life support machines.

773
00:51:12.945 --> 00:51:15.490
They come in at the right time

774
00:51:15.573 --> 00:51:18.034
to breathe… They let off...
let off oxygen into us,

775
00:51:18.117 --> 00:51:20.453
and then we get our energies back.
(laughs)

776
00:51:20.536 --> 00:51:22.288
-(cork pops)
-(jovial chatter)

777
00:51:22.371 --> 00:51:24.248
MAN:
Here's to us.

778
00:51:24.332 --> 00:51:26.584
(cheering, applause)

779
00:51:28.336 --> 00:51:32.548
TROSPER: So, we had met our main
mission success requirements: 90 sols.

780
00:51:34.967 --> 00:51:40.181
And we start thinking we have
maybe unlimited life on these rovers

781
00:51:40.264 --> 00:51:42.475
because the dust devils
have really helped us out here.

782
00:51:42.558 --> 00:51:45.102
So let's go, let's hit the road,
pedal to the metal,

783
00:51:45.353 --> 00:51:47.271
and go see Mars.

784
00:51:51.901 --> 00:51:55.571
SQUYRES: We got to sol 90
for both rovers, and we had fun.

785
00:51:57.323 --> 00:51:58.825
So we were doing rover drag races.

786
00:51:58.908 --> 00:52:01.619
I mean, the two rovers were
competing with each other

787
00:52:01.702 --> 00:52:04.247
to see who could do
the most meters on a given sol.

788
00:52:10.253 --> 00:52:12.880
With Spirit, we had this disappointment.

789
00:52:12.964 --> 00:52:15.383
Like, this landing site is not
what we thought it would be.

790
00:52:15.466 --> 00:52:16.843
♪ ♪

791
00:52:16.926 --> 00:52:19.136
FRAEMAN:
But Spirit looked off,

792
00:52:19.220 --> 00:52:21.389
and there were
these hills rising in the distance

793
00:52:21.472 --> 00:52:23.432
which were named the Columbia Hills.

794
00:52:23.516 --> 00:52:26.310
And so, if there's any potential evidence
of drinkable water,

795
00:52:26.394 --> 00:52:28.437
maybe we'll find it in them hills.

796
00:52:30.523 --> 00:52:33.109
And on the other side of the planet,

797
00:52:33.192 --> 00:52:37.572
our lucky rover Opportunity
was on a whole nother adventure.

798
00:52:39.031 --> 00:52:41.158
NARRATOR:
Opportunity rover diary.

799
00:52:41.242 --> 00:52:45.872
What we really need is more bedrock
deeper down in the ground.

800
00:52:45.955 --> 00:52:51.294
The closest thing is that big crater
off to the east, named Endurance.

801
00:52:51.377 --> 00:52:54.422
SQUYRES:
The beautiful thing about a crater is that

802
00:52:54.505 --> 00:52:58.801
it's a time-ordered sequence of events
with the old rocks at the bottom

803
00:52:58.885 --> 00:53:02.430
and younger and younger and younger
and younger rocks piled on top.

804
00:53:05.308 --> 00:53:08.269
There's scientific gold down there.

805
00:53:08.352 --> 00:53:13.691
But we had never intended
to drive a rover down such a steep slope.

806
00:53:16.027 --> 00:53:17.820
(whirs, beeps)

807
00:53:17.904 --> 00:53:20.531
ELLISON: It's very easy
to kill a robot on another planet

808
00:53:20.615 --> 00:53:23.034
when you're in a place like Endurance.

809
00:53:23.117 --> 00:53:27.371
I would plan to drive
as far down as we need to drive.

810
00:53:27.455 --> 00:53:29.582
FRAEMAN: The tension between
scientists and engineers is

811
00:53:29.665 --> 00:53:32.084
the scientists are the ones
who want to do the crazy thing.

812
00:53:32.168 --> 00:53:33.878
You know, "I want to drive at this

813
00:53:33.961 --> 00:53:36.464
35-degree slope
because that rock is so interesting,"

814
00:53:36.547 --> 00:53:38.591
and the engineers are the ones who say,

815
00:53:38.674 --> 00:53:40.509
"No, no, that's not safe.
You can't do that.

816
00:53:40.593 --> 00:53:42.553
This thing you want to do
is completely bananas."

817
00:53:42.637 --> 00:53:47.183
Frankly, if we can't climb
pretty reliably up these rocks,

818
00:53:47.266 --> 00:53:50.102
we're not going into this crater.

819
00:53:52.813 --> 00:53:55.066
STROUPE:
So we built a big test bed

820
00:53:55.149 --> 00:53:58.319
with basically a full-scale model
of the rover.

821
00:53:59.403 --> 00:54:01.530
MAN:
Oh, little slippage here.

822
00:54:01.614 --> 00:54:03.741
STROUPE:
We tried to simulate the geometry.

823
00:54:03.824 --> 00:54:05.826
We tried to simulate the soil.

824
00:54:05.910 --> 00:54:07.912
(indistinct chatter)

825
00:54:07.995 --> 00:54:10.206
TREBI-OLLENNU: You know,
the first time you go to test bed

826
00:54:10.289 --> 00:54:12.333
and you just drive straight up,

827
00:54:12.416 --> 00:54:13.542
it comes straight down. (laughs)

828
00:54:13.626 --> 00:54:16.003
(groaning)

829
00:54:17.088 --> 00:54:18.422
STROUPE:
So we inched our way down.

830
00:54:18.506 --> 00:54:20.633
Or I guess, you know,
we should use metric.

831
00:54:20.716 --> 00:54:22.176
We centimetered our way down.

832
00:54:22.259 --> 00:54:24.845
(whirring, beeping)

833
00:54:24.929 --> 00:54:27.598
Very carefully planning the drive

834
00:54:27.682 --> 00:54:30.518
to keep Opportunity
from getting into too much trouble.

835
00:54:38.192 --> 00:54:40.569
(quiet chatter)

836
00:54:40.653 --> 00:54:42.863
MAN:
Did we clear it?

837
00:54:42.947 --> 00:54:46.450
STROUPE: So we came back in
the next morning and looked at the images,

838
00:54:46.534 --> 00:54:50.371
and you could hear the gasp
from different parts of the room.

839
00:54:51.455 --> 00:54:54.250
The surface around the side of the crater

840
00:54:54.333 --> 00:54:58.004
wasn't as grippy as we'd hoped it was,
and she apparently started

841
00:54:58.087 --> 00:54:59.880
sliding down the hill...

842
00:54:59.964 --> 00:55:01.340
(buzzing)

843
00:55:01.424 --> 00:55:04.176
...towards this giant boulder.

844
00:55:04.260 --> 00:55:06.178
(alarm beeping)

845
00:55:06.262 --> 00:55:09.223
♪ ♪

846
00:55:12.476 --> 00:55:16.355
STROUPE: But we have something
called autonomy built into the rovers.

847
00:55:19.108 --> 00:55:21.402
We allow the rover to think for itself.

848
00:55:22.486 --> 00:55:28.701
Because the rover knows more
about the situation on Mars than we do.

849
00:55:29.869 --> 00:55:32.121
STROUPE: So, when Opportunity
went down into the crater...

850
00:55:35.541 --> 00:55:38.419
...she noticed that she was
sliding too much downhill

851
00:55:38.502 --> 00:55:41.797
and stopped just centimeters

852
00:55:41.881 --> 00:55:44.925
from the tip of her solar panel.

853
00:55:46.052 --> 00:55:49.055
That short of crashing
into this giant rock.

854
00:55:50.139 --> 00:55:53.225
Which could've been
mission-ending for Opportunity.

855
00:55:55.394 --> 00:55:59.523
We all had heart attacks,
but her autonomy saved us.

856
00:56:00.900 --> 00:56:03.569
And we were so proud
of our lucky rover.

857
00:56:09.408 --> 00:56:11.410
SQUYRES:
With Opportunity,

858
00:56:11.494 --> 00:56:15.372
we had a big, big, big photo printed.

859
00:56:15.456 --> 00:56:19.543
It was a north-to-south strip
that was acquired from orbit.

860
00:56:19.627 --> 00:56:22.296
And it showed Eagle Crater
where we landed,

861
00:56:22.379 --> 00:56:25.841
Endurance Crater where Opportunity was,

862
00:56:25.925 --> 00:56:28.219
and we rolled it out on a table.

863
00:56:30.137 --> 00:56:33.099
Way, way down at the end,
there was this big crater,

864
00:56:33.182 --> 00:56:36.060
you know, kilometers to the south,
that we named Victoria Crater.

865
00:56:42.149 --> 00:56:44.151
ELLISON:
And I know it's ridiculous

866
00:56:44.235 --> 00:56:46.904
to take a mission that was
supposed to be three months and go,

867
00:56:46.987 --> 00:56:48.823
"So, we've got this crater.

868
00:56:48.906 --> 00:56:51.117
We think it'll maybe take
two years to get there."

869
00:56:52.201 --> 00:56:53.911
But we did it anyway.

870
00:56:53.994 --> 00:56:56.122
So, first things first.

871
00:56:58.582 --> 00:57:00.334
♪ Ow! ♪

872
00:57:00.417 --> 00:57:02.837
("Walking on Sunshine"
by Katrina and The Waves playing)

873
00:57:02.920 --> 00:57:04.922
(laughter)

874
00:57:05.005 --> 00:57:07.174
♪ Hey, yeah ♪

875
00:57:08.342 --> 00:57:11.178
(over speaker):
♪ I used to think maybe you loved me ♪

876
00:57:11.262 --> 00:57:14.265
♪ Now, baby, I'm sure ♪

877
00:57:16.684 --> 00:57:18.561
♪ And I just can't wait... ♪

878
00:57:18.644 --> 00:57:23.107
MANNING:
So, Victoria Crater was miles away.

879
00:57:23.190 --> 00:57:24.400
♪ Oh, yeah ♪

880
00:57:24.483 --> 00:57:28.696
♪ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa-oh ♪

881
00:57:28.779 --> 00:57:30.906
♪ I'm walking on sunshine... ♪

882
00:57:30.990 --> 00:57:32.616
MANNING:
But it was a pretty clear shot.

883
00:57:32.700 --> 00:57:34.410
There's no hills or mountains in the way.

884
00:57:35.494 --> 00:57:37.538
Just these ripples of dust.

885
00:57:37.621 --> 00:57:39.165
♪ And don't it feel good ♪

886
00:57:39.248 --> 00:57:40.583
♪ Hey... ♪

887
00:57:40.666 --> 00:57:43.460
TREBI-OLLENNU:
So we do what we call blind driving.

888
00:57:44.545 --> 00:57:46.172
♪ Oh, yeah ♪

889
00:57:46.255 --> 00:57:48.716
♪ And don't it feel good... ♪

890
00:57:48.799 --> 00:57:50.509
So we told Opportunity,

891
00:57:50.593 --> 00:57:52.928
"You're blindfolded.
Trust me. Keep going."

892
00:57:53.012 --> 00:57:55.431
♪ I feel the love, I feel the love
that's really real ♪

893
00:57:55.514 --> 00:57:58.726
♪ I feel alive, I feel the love,
I feel the love that's really real... ♪

894
00:57:58.809 --> 00:58:01.854
TREBI-OLLENNU: And with blind drive,
the way we count progress

895
00:58:01.937 --> 00:58:04.356
is the number of wheel turns.

896
00:58:04.440 --> 00:58:07.735
♪ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa-oh ♪

897
00:58:07.818 --> 00:58:09.737
♪ I'm walking on sunshine... ♪

898
00:58:09.820 --> 00:58:12.323
MANNING:
So, the wheels had turned on the drive.

899
00:58:12.406 --> 00:58:14.950
♪ I'm walking on sunshine... ♪

900
00:58:15.034 --> 00:58:16.785
But to our shock...

901
00:58:16.869 --> 00:58:19.747
-♪ And don't it feel good. ♪
-(song ends)

902
00:58:19.830 --> 00:58:21.957
...Oppy hadn't moved at all.

903
00:58:22.041 --> 00:58:23.667
(whirring)

904
00:58:23.751 --> 00:58:25.002
MAN:
This is the previous day.

905
00:58:25.085 --> 00:58:26.921
MAN 2:
Went to exactly where it got stuck.

906
00:58:27.004 --> 00:58:30.633
It literally didn't make
much more progress after about this point.

907
00:58:30.716 --> 00:58:33.302
But the rover thought
it was executing its plan

908
00:58:33.385 --> 00:58:35.512
as though it were all the way down here.

909
00:58:35.596 --> 00:58:40.893
VERMA: So, the entire day, Opportunity
was just spinning its wheels in place

910
00:58:40.976 --> 00:58:43.938
and digging itself deeper
and deeper and deeper.

911
00:58:44.021 --> 00:58:46.023
(beeping, whirring)

912
00:58:56.200 --> 00:58:58.327
ELLISON: There's no book that's,
you know, "Chapter Four:

913
00:58:58.410 --> 00:59:00.621
Extracting Mars Rovers from Sand Dunes."

914
00:59:00.704 --> 00:59:05.084
So we built a copy of the sand dune
at JPL, stuck her over it.

915
00:59:06.877 --> 00:59:09.588
TREBI-OLLENNU: From an engineering
perspective, it was exciting...

916
00:59:09.672 --> 00:59:10.923
(chuckles)

917
00:59:11.006 --> 00:59:12.841
...because we like...
we-we like a challenge.

918
00:59:14.510 --> 00:59:16.762
So it's almost like quicksand.

919
00:59:16.845 --> 00:59:21.517
And we spent six weeks trying
to learn how to extricate Opportunity.

920
00:59:22.851 --> 00:59:27.564
STROUPE:
But the soil had no friction on it at all.

921
00:59:27.648 --> 00:59:30.150
It was almost like trying
to drive through cake flour.

922
00:59:32.736 --> 00:59:37.032
ELLISON: The engineers decided the only
chance is stick it in reverse and gun it.

923
00:59:47.418 --> 00:59:49.420
(whirring)

924
00:59:56.427 --> 00:59:59.013
But on Mars, it was getting worse.

925
00:59:59.096 --> 01:00:00.806
It looked like we were getting
even deeper.

926
01:00:01.890 --> 01:00:03.600
This could be fatal.

927
01:00:05.728 --> 01:00:08.439
NARRATOR:
Sol 483.

928
01:00:08.522 --> 01:00:11.150
Power has dropped substantially.

929
01:00:11.233 --> 01:00:14.611
At the moment, we're just keeping
our nose above water.

930
01:00:24.455 --> 01:00:26.457
(whirring)

931
01:00:33.005 --> 01:00:35.007
♪ ♪

932
01:00:41.013 --> 01:00:43.015
NARRATOR:
Sol 484.

933
01:00:44.516 --> 01:00:47.102
Long-term drive options are now back.

934
01:00:47.186 --> 01:00:49.063
(cheering, applause)

935
01:00:55.069 --> 01:00:57.488
MANNING: We said, "Okay,
let's be a little bit more conservative

936
01:00:57.571 --> 01:01:00.115
about our driving from here on out."
(chuckles)

937
01:01:00.199 --> 01:01:02.493
And so we carefully drove south,

938
01:01:02.576 --> 01:01:05.371
and we finally eventually made it
to Victoria Crater.

939
01:01:12.294 --> 01:01:14.254
SQUYRES:
There was a group of us

940
01:01:14.338 --> 01:01:17.299
sitting around a table
drinking margaritas at a party.

941
01:01:19.093 --> 01:01:22.679
And somebody came up with the idea,
"Hey, let's have a bet."

942
01:01:22.763 --> 01:01:24.431
Picked up a cocktail napkin,

943
01:01:24.515 --> 01:01:26.517
and we all wrote down our names.

944
01:01:26.600 --> 01:01:29.561
And everybody had to put in 20 bucks.

945
01:01:29.645 --> 01:01:32.231
MANNING:
We said, "Okay. Who believes that

946
01:01:32.314 --> 01:01:34.983
zero, one or two rovers
are alive next year?"

947
01:01:36.193 --> 01:01:39.613
SQUYRES:
We kept that same cocktail napkin,

948
01:01:39.696 --> 01:01:43.867
and we did it year after year
after year after year.

949
01:01:46.120 --> 01:01:51.542
MANNING: And every year, Steve Squyres,
the project's principal scientist,

950
01:01:51.625 --> 01:01:55.003
voted that both rovers
would be dead in the next year.

951
01:01:55.087 --> 01:01:59.591
My logic being
that someday I would eventually win,

952
01:01:59.675 --> 01:02:03.220
and when I did win, it would cheer me up
at a time when I'd be feeling sad.

953
01:02:03.303 --> 01:02:05.305
(indistinct chatter)

954
01:02:05.389 --> 01:02:09.560
MANNING: I voted just the opposite--
that both rovers would still be alive.

955
01:02:11.145 --> 01:02:15.023
So, actually, I did pretty well
through the years in these bets.

956
01:02:23.031 --> 01:02:24.825
(whirring)

957
01:02:24.908 --> 01:02:28.829
SQUYRES: At this point, Spirit,
our kind of hardworking blue-collar rover,

958
01:02:28.912 --> 01:02:31.206
was exploring the Columbia Hills.

959
01:02:33.250 --> 01:02:36.295
But she had been having
mechanical problems.

960
01:02:40.716 --> 01:02:43.886
And then the right front wheel failed.

961
01:02:46.805 --> 01:02:49.892
-The five-wheel, five-wheel drive.
-MAN: Okay.

962
01:02:52.853 --> 01:02:56.398
STROUPE: Somebody said,
"This is a lot like that grocery cart

963
01:02:56.482 --> 01:02:59.985
with the stuck wheel
that's easier to pull than push."

964
01:03:01.403 --> 01:03:03.864
We're like, "Pull!
Yes, let's go backwards."

965
01:03:08.911 --> 01:03:12.956
ELLISON: So, Spirit slowly drove
backwards through Columbia Hills,

966
01:03:13.040 --> 01:03:16.210
dragging this broken wheel as it went.

967
01:03:17.252 --> 01:03:20.964
And it was awful
because winter was coming.

968
01:03:21.048 --> 01:03:23.383
♪ ♪

969
01:03:26.970 --> 01:03:32.017
BOYKINS: So, a Martian winter
is twice as long as it is on Earth.

970
01:03:33.268 --> 01:03:35.687
(shuddering):
So it gets really cold.

971
01:03:35.771 --> 01:03:40.609
It gets so cold that you have to use
much of your energy

972
01:03:40.692 --> 01:03:43.946
to keep all of your hardware
above a certain temperature,

973
01:03:44.029 --> 01:03:45.864
or it's likely to break.

974
01:03:47.157 --> 01:03:50.285
SQUYRES: At the Spirit site,
we desperately needed a way

975
01:03:50.369 --> 01:03:53.205
to tilt the solar arrays towards the sun.

976
01:03:54.373 --> 01:03:58.710
But the only way to do that
was to tilt the entire vehicle.

977
01:03:59.795 --> 01:04:01.797
♪ ♪

978
01:04:10.264 --> 01:04:12.849
Spirit would have to climb backwards

979
01:04:12.933 --> 01:04:16.687
up this rocky, rugged terrain...

980
01:04:19.231 --> 01:04:22.109
...to stay alive all through the winter.

981
01:04:23.151 --> 01:04:25.153
(beeping)

982
01:04:30.576 --> 01:04:32.578
And it's not just the seasons.

983
01:04:32.661 --> 01:04:34.913
You've also got things like dust storms.

984
01:04:36.707 --> 01:04:39.793
SQUYRES: Sometimes dust storms
will blow up into a global storm.

985
01:04:41.003 --> 01:04:44.673
And this one hit Opportunity the hardest.

986
01:04:47.092 --> 01:04:49.928
-NARRATOR: Sol 1,226.
-(thunder crashes)

987
01:04:50.971 --> 01:04:53.807
Opportunity has been
fighting for her life.

988
01:04:55.183 --> 01:04:58.937
Mars took off its gloves
and pounded the Opportunity site

989
01:04:59.021 --> 01:05:01.648
with record high levels
of dust in the sky.

990
01:05:01.732 --> 01:05:03.150
♪ ♪

991
01:05:03.233 --> 01:05:05.569
(thunder crashes)

992
01:05:08.447 --> 01:05:12.618
STROUPE: So we had to tweak the rover's
onboard decision-making process

993
01:05:12.701 --> 01:05:15.495
so that when the power
started getting too low...

994
01:05:17.873 --> 01:05:22.044
...Opportunity could shut herself down
to preserve her batteries.

995
01:05:29.009 --> 01:05:30.844
(indistinct radio chatter)

996
01:05:30.927 --> 01:05:32.554
STROUPE:
Nobody wanted to say out loud

997
01:05:32.638 --> 01:05:35.015
that we thought the mission
could end at any moment.

998
01:05:37.184 --> 01:05:39.978
We could see the dust storm.
We could track it from orbit.

999
01:05:42.731 --> 01:05:46.234
But it took weeks
before it started to clear.

1000
01:05:48.028 --> 01:05:52.324
The original time that was, uh,
predicted for the data to come down

1001
01:05:52.407 --> 01:05:57.037
was 12... 20:40 UTC,
but we are a bit tight.

1002
01:05:57.120 --> 01:06:01.249
So we actually had a lot of suggestions
on morning wake-up songs today,

1003
01:06:01.333 --> 01:06:05.253
so I thought I would just continue
to play them as we get the data.

1004
01:06:05.337 --> 01:06:08.131
(indistinct chatter)

1005
01:06:10.008 --> 01:06:13.053
("Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
playing)

1006
01:06:18.350 --> 01:06:20.977
STROUPE:
And then we just had to wait and see

1007
01:06:21.061 --> 01:06:22.979
if we were gonna survive.

1008
01:06:24.481 --> 01:06:26.316
♪ Here comes the sun ♪

1009
01:06:26.400 --> 01:06:28.443
♪ Doo-da-doo-doo ♪

1010
01:06:28.527 --> 01:06:30.487
♪ Here comes the sun ♪

1011
01:06:30.570 --> 01:06:33.448
♪ And I say it's all right ♪

1012
01:06:37.327 --> 01:06:39.162
♪ Little darling ♪

1013
01:06:39.246 --> 01:06:43.500
♪ It's been a long cold lonely winter ♪

1014
01:06:44.751 --> 01:06:46.628
♪ Little darling ♪

1015
01:06:46.712 --> 01:06:51.133
♪ It feels like years
since it's been here ♪

1016
01:06:52.467 --> 01:06:54.261
♪ Here comes the sun ♪

1017
01:06:54.344 --> 01:06:56.096
♪ Doo-da-doo-doo ♪

1018
01:06:56.179 --> 01:06:58.306
-♪ Here comes the sun ♪
-(beeping)

1019
01:06:58.390 --> 01:07:01.560
♪ And I say it's all right ♪

1020
01:07:01.643 --> 01:07:03.645
(whirring)

1021
01:07:05.313 --> 01:07:07.149
♪ Little darling ♪

1022
01:07:07.232 --> 01:07:10.444
♪ The smile's returning to the faces ♪

1023
01:07:10.527 --> 01:07:12.612
(cheering)

1024
01:07:12.696 --> 01:07:15.782
♪ Little darling, it seems like years... ♪

1025
01:07:15.866 --> 01:07:18.326
ELLISON:
I don't think anyone expected the rovers

1026
01:07:18.410 --> 01:07:20.620
to survive all these disasters.

1027
01:07:20.704 --> 01:07:22.706
♪ Here comes the sun ♪

1028
01:07:24.332 --> 01:07:26.251
♪ Here comes the sun... ♪

1029
01:07:26.334 --> 01:07:28.336
You get this feeling of--

1030
01:07:28.420 --> 01:07:30.964
there's nothing Mars
can do to us at this point.

1031
01:07:31.047 --> 01:07:33.383
Like, we've survived everything.
We're basically invincible.

1032
01:07:33.467 --> 01:07:37.012
♪ Here comes the sun, doo-da-doo-doo... ♪

1033
01:07:37.095 --> 01:07:39.222
But the mission wasn't done.

1034
01:07:40.307 --> 01:07:44.644
We were still hoping we would find
a place where life could have arisen,

1035
01:07:44.728 --> 01:07:48.732
with neutral-pH water, with water
you maybe could even have drunk.

1036
01:07:48.815 --> 01:07:50.817
(song ends)

1037
01:07:50.901 --> 01:07:52.903
(wind whistling softly)

1038
01:07:55.781 --> 01:07:57.699
(cheering, applause)

1039
01:07:57.783 --> 01:07:59.034
Thank you.

1040
01:07:59.117 --> 01:08:00.535
-Dr. Squyres.
-Nice to be here.

1041
01:08:00.619 --> 01:08:02.621
-Thank you so much for joining us.
-Yeah.

1042
01:08:02.704 --> 01:08:07.000
Now, um, this is a model of one
of the rovers that's on Mars right now.

1043
01:08:07.083 --> 01:08:08.460
-That's right.
-Which... Is this...

1044
01:08:08.543 --> 01:08:09.878
Is this, uh, Spirit or Opportunity?

1045
01:08:09.961 --> 01:08:11.171
SQUYRES:
Uh, they're basically identical twins,

1046
01:08:11.254 --> 01:08:12.881
-so they look the same.
-So you can't tell the difference

1047
01:08:12.964 --> 01:08:14.174
-between your two children.
-Uh...

1048
01:08:14.257 --> 01:08:15.717
You're a terrible father
is what you're saying.

1049
01:08:15.801 --> 01:08:17.093
-(laughs)
-(audience laughing)

1050
01:08:17.177 --> 01:08:18.303
Um...

1051
01:08:18.386 --> 01:08:20.972
SQUYRES:
So, Spirit and Opportunity's mission

1052
01:08:21.056 --> 01:08:26.102
had kind of taken on a life of its own
with the public.

1053
01:08:27.562 --> 01:08:30.315
The traffic once again
is heavy today on Mars.

1054
01:08:30.398 --> 01:08:32.609
Rovers Spirit and Opportunity still at it.

1055
01:08:32.692 --> 01:08:34.820
So far, they have traveled
nine and a quarter miles

1056
01:08:34.903 --> 01:08:37.572
and captured more than 156,000 images.

1057
01:08:38.657 --> 01:08:40.450
SQUYRES:
NASA does a lot of

1058
01:08:40.534 --> 01:08:42.327
wonderful things in space science.

1059
01:08:42.410 --> 01:08:45.330
But try to explain gamma-ray spectroscopy

1060
01:08:45.413 --> 01:08:47.290
to an eight-year-old-- it's hard.

1061
01:08:49.709 --> 01:08:52.254
But a robot geologist--

1062
01:08:52.337 --> 01:08:55.048
anybody could sort of understand
what it was about.

1063
01:08:56.842 --> 01:08:59.302
And now exploration and adventure

1064
01:08:59.386 --> 01:09:02.931
can become a very large
shared human experience.

1065
01:09:03.014 --> 01:09:04.182
(whirring)

1066
01:09:04.266 --> 01:09:06.393
MAN:
What is he doing?

1067
01:09:06.476 --> 01:09:08.979
MANNING:
The rovers became a phenomenon.

1068
01:09:11.106 --> 01:09:14.276
They represented exploration
and curiosity and interest in the world.

1069
01:09:14.359 --> 01:09:17.070
Godspeed to the Mars rover,
wherever you are tonight.

1070
01:09:17.153 --> 01:09:19.072
MANNING:
And the more these rovers lasted

1071
01:09:19.155 --> 01:09:21.867
and the more promise
of future discovery...

1072
01:09:21.950 --> 01:09:23.535
Elbow. Has a wrist.

1073
01:09:23.618 --> 01:09:27.914
MANNING: ...people around the world were
becoming really attached to these rovers.

1074
01:09:30.083 --> 01:09:32.711
STROUPE:
But I don't think any of us fully realized

1075
01:09:32.794 --> 01:09:37.549
the impact that we were having
on the public until Spirit got stuck.

1076
01:09:42.512 --> 01:09:45.140
TROSPER:
My alter ego, Spirit, had a problem.

1077
01:09:48.810 --> 01:09:51.479
She already had a broken wheel,

1078
01:09:51.563 --> 01:09:54.482
and she had gotten a little bit embedded.

1079
01:09:56.359 --> 01:10:01.072
And then another wheel broke,
and it was getting close to winter.

1080
01:10:01.156 --> 01:10:03.992
(beeps, whirs)

1081
01:10:04.075 --> 01:10:08.997
But I figured, knowing Spirit,
that she'd figure it out.

1082
01:10:09.080 --> 01:10:11.541
♪ ♪

1083
01:10:11.625 --> 01:10:14.294
STROUPE:
This mound of rocks,

1084
01:10:14.377 --> 01:10:17.964
this may be
what we're hung on right there.

1085
01:10:18.965 --> 01:10:22.761
And both on Mars and in the test bed,
as we drive, it does sink.

1086
01:10:24.721 --> 01:10:29.726
This first slide here just is an overview
of the energy requirements for Spirit.

1087
01:10:29.809 --> 01:10:34.522
Um, the numbers in red are the ones
where we won't have enough energy

1088
01:10:34.606 --> 01:10:37.609
to survive for an extended period of time.

1089
01:10:38.902 --> 01:10:41.363
STROUPE: So now it was really
a race against the clock.

1090
01:10:41.446 --> 01:10:46.117
We were making very slow progress,
but we had to try and try to beat winter.

1091
01:10:46.201 --> 01:10:51.623
And we started getting letters
and phone calls from the public.

1092
01:10:52.916 --> 01:10:55.001
This real sense of, you know,

1093
01:10:55.085 --> 01:10:58.588
we have to do
whatever it takes to save Spirit.

1094
01:11:02.175 --> 01:11:05.220
VERMA: And the public
called this campaign "Free Spirit."

1095
01:11:06.972 --> 01:11:08.598
And it showed us that

1096
01:11:08.682 --> 01:11:14.396
humans are capable of forming
a connection and a bond to a robot.

1097
01:11:15.730 --> 01:11:19.025
NARRATOR:
Sol 2,196.

1098
01:11:19.109 --> 01:11:22.028
Spirit has been prepared
for her winter sleep.

1099
01:11:23.113 --> 01:11:25.156
She is tucked into bed,

1100
01:11:25.240 --> 01:11:30.203
and now we all watch carefully
for the signal or lack thereof.

1101
01:11:32.914 --> 01:11:35.583
BOYKINS:
As the rover starts to get hypothermia,

1102
01:11:35.667 --> 01:11:37.711
she can't communicate anymore.

1103
01:11:41.297 --> 01:11:44.092
And then she either wakes up
the next morning

1104
01:11:44.175 --> 01:11:46.261
or she doesn't wake up at all.

1105
01:11:51.599 --> 01:11:54.769
When the sun came back up,

1106
01:11:54.853 --> 01:11:58.565
we'd listen, we try to hear

1107
01:11:58.648 --> 01:12:01.609
a whisper, a tone.

1108
01:12:01.693 --> 01:12:03.194
Anything.

1109
01:12:04.946 --> 01:12:06.364
And we don't.

1110
01:12:11.244 --> 01:12:14.414
It did feel like we were,

1111
01:12:14.497 --> 01:12:17.459
you know, watching a friend go,
in a lot of ways.

1112
01:12:19.377 --> 01:12:23.048
I know people think it's weird 'cause
I sound like I'm talking about a person,

1113
01:12:23.131 --> 01:12:25.800
but even though she wasn't a person,

1114
01:12:25.884 --> 01:12:28.762
it was still a huge part
of all of our lives.

1115
01:12:31.681 --> 01:12:34.392
TROSPER: Spirit was our rugged
and adventurous rover,

1116
01:12:34.476 --> 01:12:37.979
and her environment required more of her.

1117
01:12:38.063 --> 01:12:40.482
And so maybe it's just because
I was Spirit's mission manager

1118
01:12:40.565 --> 01:12:42.484
and I wanted her to be like me, but...

1119
01:12:43.777 --> 01:12:47.238
...I feel like I connected
with Spirit in that way.

1120
01:12:52.994 --> 01:12:55.413
You know, maybe she was just
a little tired, too,

1121
01:12:55.497 --> 01:12:57.582
after all her hard work.

1122
01:12:57.665 --> 01:12:59.667
♪ ♪

1123
01:13:16.601 --> 01:13:19.479
SQUYRES: At any rate,
if we can get something like

1124
01:13:19.562 --> 01:13:22.482
a hundred meters out of today's drive,

1125
01:13:22.565 --> 01:13:24.442
just project that line that you see...

1126
01:13:24.526 --> 01:13:27.403
MANNING: So, by this time,
only a handful of people

1127
01:13:27.487 --> 01:13:30.365
who were on the design originally
are still left on the team.

1128
01:13:31.574 --> 01:13:36.162
So we're in another generation of
engineers who are operating Opportunity.

1129
01:13:37.163 --> 01:13:39.165
♪ ♪

1130
01:13:40.708 --> 01:13:43.044
SIEGFRIEDT:
Never in a million years did I think

1131
01:13:43.128 --> 01:13:44.921
I would be able to work on Opportunity.

1132
01:13:47.757 --> 01:13:52.178
When I was in eighth grade,
I saw this news story

1133
01:13:52.262 --> 01:13:54.597
of Spirit and Opportunity landing.

1134
01:13:56.599 --> 01:13:58.143
I was just some small-town girl

1135
01:13:58.226 --> 01:14:00.019
in the middle of nowhere in Texas.

1136
01:14:01.104 --> 01:14:03.648
But I knew that's what I wanted to do.

1137
01:14:03.731 --> 01:14:06.192
I wanted to help find life
on other planets.

1138
01:14:09.571 --> 01:14:11.406
MOOGEGA COOPER:
When I was about 17,

1139
01:14:11.489 --> 01:14:14.742
there was a naming contest
for Spirit and Opportunity.

1140
01:14:14.826 --> 01:14:17.078
(laughs)

1141
01:14:17.162 --> 01:14:19.372
I ended up submitting the names

1142
01:14:19.455 --> 01:14:21.124
Romulus and Remus.

1143
01:14:22.417 --> 01:14:25.753
Their father was Mars, the god of war.

1144
01:14:27.005 --> 01:14:31.092
I don't know what I was thinking, but...

1145
01:14:31.176 --> 01:14:36.097
that is when my brain was completely
turned on to Mars and space exploration...

1146
01:14:38.558 --> 01:14:42.478
...and eventually led me
to NASA's Mars program.

1147
01:14:44.480 --> 01:14:47.108
SIEGFRIEDT:
When I first started at JPL,

1148
01:14:47.192 --> 01:14:49.986
Opportunity was this older rover

1149
01:14:50.069 --> 01:14:52.197
that was in her extended, extended

1150
01:14:52.280 --> 01:14:53.823
times a thousand mission. (chuckles)

1151
01:14:54.908 --> 01:14:58.953
But she is the reason
I started aerospace engineering.

1152
01:14:59.037 --> 01:15:03.291
I knew Opportunity was the place
I wanted to start my career.

1153
01:15:03.374 --> 01:15:06.377
All stations, this is your TDL.

1154
01:15:06.461 --> 01:15:09.547
We will begin the downlink briefing
in about five minutes.

1155
01:15:12.675 --> 01:15:14.677
(beeping, whirring)

1156
01:15:20.350 --> 01:15:23.561
SQUYRES:
Now that Spirit's gone,

1157
01:15:23.645 --> 01:15:26.606
there's this--
what do we do next with Opportunity?

1158
01:15:28.358 --> 01:15:31.486
Do we just kind of noodle around
till the wheels fall off?

1159
01:15:31.569 --> 01:15:35.073
Or do we put our foot on the gas
and just go as fast as we can

1160
01:15:35.156 --> 01:15:38.493
and try to reach that big crater next?

1161
01:15:40.870 --> 01:15:43.122
STROUPE:
Miles and miles away,

1162
01:15:43.206 --> 01:15:46.918
this huge crater called Endeavour.

1163
01:15:47.001 --> 01:15:48.795
It would have the oldest rocks

1164
01:15:48.878 --> 01:15:52.131
that Opportunity would've
been able to look at so far.

1165
01:15:53.383 --> 01:15:55.718
But it was many years away.

1166
01:15:56.719 --> 01:15:59.722
And we might not make it,
but it was where the next good stuff was,

1167
01:15:59.806 --> 01:16:01.557
so we might as well try.

1168
01:16:03.309 --> 01:16:06.271
NARRATOR:
Sol 1,784.

1169
01:16:09.357 --> 01:16:12.277
Opportunity has been trekking
toward Endeavour Crater,

1170
01:16:12.360 --> 01:16:16.781
driving as frequently
and for as long as possible.

1171
01:16:17.865 --> 01:16:20.618
This week, she won
the reverse galactic lottery

1172
01:16:20.702 --> 01:16:22.870
-and was struck by lightning.
-(thunder cracks)

1173
01:16:22.954 --> 01:16:24.372
Sort of.

1174
01:16:24.455 --> 01:16:29.585
She got hit by a cosmic ray
that stalled her for a few days.

1175
01:16:29.669 --> 01:16:34.382
But she is okay and back to driving.

1176
01:16:34.465 --> 01:16:36.759
Sol 2,042.

1177
01:16:41.097 --> 01:16:44.017
Opportunity seems to have
become a meteorite hunter.

1178
01:16:44.100 --> 01:16:47.103
She has discovered
three meteorites so far

1179
01:16:47.186 --> 01:16:49.188
on her journey to Endeavour.

1180
01:16:51.983 --> 01:16:54.360
Sol 2,213.

1181
01:16:55.570 --> 01:16:58.197
-Oppy is in her fourth winter on Mars
-(wind whistling)

1182
01:16:58.281 --> 01:17:00.867
and the coldest yet.

1183
01:17:00.950 --> 01:17:04.996
So, in order to save energy,
the rover is sleeping more

1184
01:17:05.079 --> 01:17:07.373
to keep her electronics warm.

1185
01:17:09.250 --> 01:17:11.919
ELLISON: So we're sprinting
and we're sprinting and we're sprinting.

1186
01:17:12.003 --> 01:17:15.048
Some days getting great distance,
some days not going very far at all,

1187
01:17:15.131 --> 01:17:17.008
but we keep going.

1188
01:17:21.137 --> 01:17:26.267
NARRATOR: Opportunity is only about
two kilometers away from Endeavour Crater.

1189
01:17:26.351 --> 01:17:29.312
She'll make landfall at Spirit Point,

1190
01:17:29.395 --> 01:17:32.940
named in honor of Oppy's silent sister.

1191
01:17:36.944 --> 01:17:40.656
ANNOUNCER:
Welcome to the very first Mars Marathon

1192
01:17:40.740 --> 01:17:42.909
here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

1193
01:17:42.992 --> 01:17:45.578
(cheering, applause)

1194
01:17:45.661 --> 01:17:50.625
The Opportunity rover has achieved
a marathon's distance on Mars

1195
01:17:50.708 --> 01:17:52.585
just a week and a half ago.

1196
01:17:52.668 --> 01:17:54.670
(cheering)

1197
01:17:56.130 --> 01:17:58.758
ANNOUNCER:
Congratulations, everyone!

1198
01:17:58.841 --> 01:18:01.761
BOYKINS:
So, at this point, we have

1199
01:18:01.844 --> 01:18:06.015
well exceeded our warranty
and then the extended warranty

1200
01:18:06.099 --> 01:18:07.517
and then the phone call
on your phone that says,

1201
01:18:07.600 --> 01:18:09.477
"Hey, we'll give you more warranty."
We've run past that, too.

1202
01:18:10.561 --> 01:18:12.563
♪ ♪

1203
01:18:13.564 --> 01:18:15.566
(beeping)

1204
01:18:16.943 --> 01:18:20.238
And Oppy started to show signs of age.

1205
01:18:21.989 --> 01:18:25.535
Her gray hair was the dust accumulation

1206
01:18:25.618 --> 01:18:28.663
in the crevices between the cables.

1207
01:18:33.084 --> 01:18:35.420
STROUPE:
One of the shoulder joints

1208
01:18:35.503 --> 01:18:38.506
in Opportunity's arm
started getting arthritis.

1209
01:18:48.057 --> 01:18:51.436
We ended up realizing that
if we keep trying to move it,

1210
01:18:51.519 --> 01:18:54.564
it's gonna quit somewhere
that we don't want it to be.

1211
01:18:58.693 --> 01:19:00.862
VERMA:
So we just kept the arm out

1212
01:19:00.945 --> 01:19:04.157
in front of the rover
for the rest of the mission.

1213
01:19:07.410 --> 01:19:10.538
And with arthritis setting in,

1214
01:19:10.621 --> 01:19:14.375
Opportunity also started to have problems
with the right front wheel.

1215
01:19:18.713 --> 01:19:20.840
So, when you were driving it,
you had to think

1216
01:19:20.923 --> 01:19:24.677
in terms of it always veering off
and how you were gonna correct for that.

1217
01:19:30.766 --> 01:19:33.269
SIEGFRIEDT:
Once she started getting older and older,

1218
01:19:33.352 --> 01:19:37.148
Oppy started losing her memory.

1219
01:19:44.363 --> 01:19:46.365
She would go to sleep.

1220
01:19:46.449 --> 01:19:49.160
(beeping)

1221
01:19:49.243 --> 01:19:52.788
And she would essentially forget
all of the science information

1222
01:19:52.872 --> 01:19:55.791
and all of what she had done
before she'd wake up.

1223
01:19:59.670 --> 01:20:04.217
And around the same time that Opportunity
started losing her memory...

1224
01:20:06.260 --> 01:20:09.722
...my grandmother was diagnosed
with Alzheimer's.

1225
01:20:09.805 --> 01:20:15.645
And to see my own grandmother
become not herself anymore...

1226
01:20:16.729 --> 01:20:19.398
-A…
-Bicycle.

1227
01:20:19.482 --> 01:20:24.695
...it was one of the hardest things
to go through.

1228
01:20:24.779 --> 01:20:26.781
♪ ♪

1229
01:20:28.115 --> 01:20:32.203
And so when I started seeing Opportunity
start slipping away, too...

1230
01:20:34.121 --> 01:20:37.166
...we had to figure out a way to operate

1231
01:20:37.250 --> 01:20:40.419
in this new paradigm
of her having amnesia.

1232
01:20:43.756 --> 01:20:46.092
(whirring)

1233
01:20:46.175 --> 01:20:49.095
And we did so successfully

1234
01:20:49.178 --> 01:20:51.764
just by forcing her to stay awake.

1235
01:20:53.599 --> 01:20:55.768
So she could send us earthlings
all the data

1236
01:20:55.851 --> 01:20:58.729
before she went to sleep
and forgot everything she did.

1237
01:21:06.445 --> 01:21:09.615
I think Opportunity helped me to really

1238
01:21:09.699 --> 01:21:13.703
better deal with
my grandmother's situation.

1239
01:21:15.955 --> 01:21:20.376
And to... to understand that part of life.

1240
01:21:25.631 --> 01:21:28.050
But she was still the perfect child.

1241
01:21:29.343 --> 01:21:33.139
And she kept trying her damnedest

1242
01:21:33.222 --> 01:21:35.433
to complete her mission,

1243
01:21:35.516 --> 01:21:39.604
to find neutral water
that can support life on Mars.

1244
01:21:43.065 --> 01:21:45.067
♪ ♪

1245
01:21:46.193 --> 01:21:48.696
FRAEMAN:
After several years of travel,

1246
01:21:48.779 --> 01:21:53.659
we finally started to see the rim
of Endeavour Crater rise in the distance.

1247
01:21:53.743 --> 01:21:55.745
♪ ♪

1248
01:21:59.206 --> 01:22:02.001
ELLISON: And even though this thing
is ten-plus miles wide...

1249
01:22:03.586 --> 01:22:06.339
...it wasn't till we pulled up
right to the edge, and suddenly...

1250
01:22:09.216 --> 01:22:10.843
...whack!

1251
01:22:17.516 --> 01:22:20.811
FRAEMAN: When Oppy reached the rim
of Endeavour, everything changed.

1252
01:22:23.397 --> 01:22:26.484
It almost felt like
the start of a whole new mission.

1253
01:22:28.861 --> 01:22:31.947
It was a whole new environment to explore,

1254
01:22:32.031 --> 01:22:35.618
stepping back tens or hundreds
of millions of years in time.

1255
01:22:38.913 --> 01:22:40.581
(laughing):
So I loved this part of the mission.

1256
01:22:42.458 --> 01:22:44.627
NARRATOR:
Sol 3,300.

1257
01:22:47.505 --> 01:22:52.968
Opportunity is feverishly working to
complete analysis of the rock Esperance,

1258
01:22:53.052 --> 01:22:57.640
which may hold the clues
to an ancient habitable environment.

1259
01:22:57.723 --> 01:23:00.101
(whirring)

1260
01:23:00.184 --> 01:23:01.686
(beeps)

1261
01:23:09.777 --> 01:23:12.905
This is a clay that has been
intensely altered

1262
01:23:12.988 --> 01:23:15.616
by relatively neutral-pH water,

1263
01:23:15.700 --> 01:23:19.453
representing the most favorable
conditions for biology

1264
01:23:19.537 --> 01:23:21.914
that Opportunity has encountered.

1265
01:23:25.292 --> 01:23:27.461
This was a huge discovery.

1266
01:23:29.088 --> 01:23:30.589
Water.

1267
01:23:30.673 --> 01:23:35.386
Drinkable, neutral water
once existed on the surface of Mars.

1268
01:23:37.054 --> 01:23:39.056
♪ ♪

1269
01:23:42.643 --> 01:23:47.898
And not only was there water, but it could
possibly sustain ancient microbial life.

1270
01:23:47.982 --> 01:23:50.359
So that is just revolutionary.

1271
01:23:52.862 --> 01:23:56.657
SQUYRES:
It showed us that the really ancient Mars

1272
01:23:56.741 --> 01:24:00.035
was much more suitable for...

1273
01:24:00.119 --> 01:24:02.663
the origin of life.

1274
01:24:04.874 --> 01:24:07.334
MANNING:
This was the Holy Grail.

1275
01:24:07.418 --> 01:24:09.962
This is the reason we had gone to Mars.

1276
01:24:10.963 --> 01:24:14.383
Oppy discovered Mars was

1277
01:24:14.467 --> 01:24:17.845
a wet world very much like Earth.

1278
01:24:19.180 --> 01:24:20.389
There were oceans.

1279
01:24:20.473 --> 01:24:22.808
Water played a huge role
in its early history.

1280
01:24:22.892 --> 01:24:24.643
It completely altered the planet.

1281
01:24:31.400 --> 01:24:36.322
SIEGFRIEDT: And Opportunity spent years
exploring Endeavour Crater,

1282
01:24:36.405 --> 01:24:40.075
making incredible discoveries
that tell that story of water.

1283
01:24:42.119 --> 01:24:47.625
So we could go back in time to a planet
that might actually have had life.

1284
01:24:49.210 --> 01:24:51.212
♪ ♪

1285
01:24:52.296 --> 01:24:56.383
BOYKINS: A lot of people ask why
I think it's important to explore Mars.

1286
01:24:57.718 --> 01:25:00.763
And I think one of the things
that will come out of

1287
01:25:00.846 --> 01:25:05.643
Spirit and Opportunity's legacy
is some of the answers to why.

1288
01:25:07.520 --> 01:25:09.772
Mars had water.

1289
01:25:09.855 --> 01:25:11.524
What happened to that water?

1290
01:25:11.607 --> 01:25:14.401
And can we take the information
and understand

1291
01:25:14.485 --> 01:25:16.487
how that could happen here on Earth?

1292
01:25:18.489 --> 01:25:21.200
And can we understand our part in that?

1293
01:25:21.283 --> 01:25:25.704
Are we doing something
that can accelerate...

1294
01:25:26.789 --> 01:25:29.208
...that change here on Earth?

1295
01:25:30.793 --> 01:25:32.878
Because that's not something
you recover from.

1296
01:25:32.962 --> 01:25:34.964
♪ ♪

1297
01:25:41.720 --> 01:25:43.722
(whirring)

1298
01:25:55.150 --> 01:25:57.987
ELLISON:
So we're 14 years into the mission,

1299
01:25:58.070 --> 01:26:00.990
and sol 5,000 only comes along once.

1300
01:26:01.073 --> 01:26:03.075
Like, it was a big landmark.

1301
01:26:04.410 --> 01:26:06.245
We've got an aging rover.

1302
01:26:06.328 --> 01:26:08.163
She's forgetful. She's arthritic.

1303
01:26:08.247 --> 01:26:10.082
Cameras are still working.

1304
01:26:10.165 --> 01:26:11.750
What can we do?

1305
01:26:12.751 --> 01:26:16.005
I jokingly said
a few days before sol 5,000,

1306
01:26:16.088 --> 01:26:17.715
"We need to take a selfie."

1307
01:26:20.676 --> 01:26:24.013
FRAEMAN: So, we'd been seeing Mars
through Oppy's eyes...

1308
01:26:25.431 --> 01:26:27.808
...but we hadn't seen all of Oppy herself.

1309
01:26:28.809 --> 01:26:31.687
Not since she left the planet in 2003.

1310
01:26:31.770 --> 01:26:34.565
We've got a bit of data mining
ahead of us.

1311
01:26:34.648 --> 01:26:37.192
ELLISON:
So, sol 5,000 planning comes along,

1312
01:26:37.276 --> 01:26:41.572
and the science lead pipes up and says,
"So, the engineering team

1313
01:26:41.655 --> 01:26:42.907
"have this request.

1314
01:26:42.990 --> 01:26:44.825
They'd like to take a selfie."

1315
01:26:44.909 --> 01:26:47.912
And you could hear a pin drop,
'cause the entire science team

1316
01:26:47.995 --> 01:26:51.415
is like, "Come again."

1317
01:26:51.498 --> 01:26:56.170
We could be using up
the remaining life of the robotic arm

1318
01:26:56.253 --> 01:27:00.466
on this act of pure robotic vanity.

1319
01:27:01.884 --> 01:27:05.262
STROUPE: We tried to sell
this idea to the science team.

1320
01:27:08.307 --> 01:27:12.603
But it's tricky because
her shoulder was broken.

1321
01:27:12.686 --> 01:27:18.359
So we had to figure out a way to get
all of the different views of the rover

1322
01:27:18.442 --> 01:27:20.653
without moving the shoulder.

1323
01:27:22.696 --> 01:27:25.824
ELLISON: It wasn't great,
but it was the best we could do.

1324
01:27:27.326 --> 01:27:30.245
And I think it was almost
the science team way of saying

1325
01:27:30.329 --> 01:27:32.081
thank you to the engineering team.

1326
01:27:32.164 --> 01:27:33.666
"This one's on us.

1327
01:27:33.749 --> 01:27:35.751
Take the time to take a selfie.
You deserve it."

1328
01:27:35.834 --> 01:27:38.796
Like, "Let's have a look at this robot
you've made dance for us."

1329
01:27:41.966 --> 01:27:43.968
(whirring)

1330
01:27:46.178 --> 01:27:48.931
(beeps, clicks)

1331
01:27:51.892 --> 01:27:55.813
And so the engineers are taking pictures
from 17 different angles...

1332
01:27:55.896 --> 01:27:58.148
(beeps, clicks)

1333
01:27:58.232 --> 01:28:00.150
...based on the little preview picture

1334
01:28:00.234 --> 01:28:02.111
of what they thought
the microscope would be seeing.

1335
01:28:04.655 --> 01:28:07.116
And with Opportunity's slow,
old computer...

1336
01:28:11.078 --> 01:28:13.372
...it takes about a minute

1337
01:28:13.455 --> 01:28:15.582
just to take a picture.

1338
01:28:21.088 --> 01:28:23.090
We're like, "Refresh.
There's nothing here yet.

1339
01:28:23.173 --> 01:28:24.633
"Refresh. There's nothing here yet.

1340
01:28:24.717 --> 01:28:27.302
Refresh."
Bang, all the thumbnails showed up.

1341
01:28:27.386 --> 01:28:30.097
Little, tiny, 64-pixel thumbnails.

1342
01:28:32.933 --> 01:28:35.477
The images were kind of fuzzy
and upside down.

1343
01:28:37.563 --> 01:28:40.024
But then we run through it...

1344
01:28:41.734 --> 01:28:44.194
...and there's a picture of Opportunity.

1345
01:28:45.446 --> 01:28:49.116
Yes, it was little and black and white
and out of focus,

1346
01:28:49.199 --> 01:28:54.371
but for the first time in,
at that point, 14-plus years,

1347
01:28:54.455 --> 01:28:56.498
we saw our rover.

1348
01:28:56.582 --> 01:28:58.584
♪ ♪

1349
01:29:12.931 --> 01:29:15.517
(quiet chatter)

1350
01:29:17.352 --> 01:29:20.481
SIEGFRIEDT:
Everybody who worked on Opportunity,

1351
01:29:20.564 --> 01:29:24.193
we'd get these emails
with our Mars weather data for the day.

1352
01:29:25.486 --> 01:29:29.281
So I looked one day,
and it's starting to get really dusty

1353
01:29:29.364 --> 01:29:32.034
and cloudy in the Opportunity site.

1354
01:29:32.117 --> 01:29:34.578
(typing)

1355
01:29:34.661 --> 01:29:40.125
So, this image was taken on sol 5,106,

1356
01:29:40.209 --> 01:29:43.504
and you can see
the sun is a big bright spot.

1357
01:29:44.588 --> 01:29:48.550
But you can see only three sols later
the sun has completely disappeared.

1358
01:29:50.219 --> 01:29:51.553
Yeah.

1359
01:29:52.888 --> 01:29:54.640
This is really scary.

1360
01:29:54.723 --> 01:29:56.725
♪ ♪

1361
01:29:58.185 --> 01:30:01.647
BOYKINS:
There's this dust storm coming for Oppy.

1362
01:30:02.898 --> 01:30:05.734
Now, we've survived
other dust storms on Mars.

1363
01:30:05.818 --> 01:30:07.444
Opportunity has survived.

1364
01:30:08.445 --> 01:30:12.407
But a few days into it, I think, uh,
people began to realize

1365
01:30:12.491 --> 01:30:16.286
that it was different
than anything we've ever experienced.

1366
01:30:16.370 --> 01:30:18.372
(wind howling)

1367
01:30:22.793 --> 01:30:27.005
NARRATOR: The dust storm that is affecting
Opportunity has greatly intensified.

1368
01:30:31.718 --> 01:30:36.431
A spacecraft emergency was declared,
anticipating a low-power fault.

1369
01:30:36.515 --> 01:30:38.517
(beeping, buzzing)

1370
01:30:56.785 --> 01:30:59.329
FRAEMAN:
And then she went dark.

1371
01:31:02.666 --> 01:31:04.334
But we all said, "We know what to do.

1372
01:31:04.418 --> 01:31:06.044
"We have our little dust storm playbook,

1373
01:31:06.128 --> 01:31:08.589
"and we're gonna try everything
we possibly can

1374
01:31:08.672 --> 01:31:11.049
to reestablish communication
with Opportunity."

1375
01:31:12.426 --> 01:31:15.512
ELLISON: At this point,
wake-up songs had kind of went away.

1376
01:31:15.596 --> 01:31:20.976
But we then brought the tradition back
in the hope that maybe singing will help.

1377
01:31:21.059 --> 01:31:23.061
♪ Jitterbug... ♪

1378
01:31:23.145 --> 01:31:25.981
And we would play them every time
we were trying to wake the rover up.

1379
01:31:26.064 --> 01:31:29.067
♪ Wake me up before you go-go ♪

1380
01:31:29.151 --> 01:31:32.154
♪ Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo ♪

1381
01:31:32.237 --> 01:31:35.073
♪ Wake me up before you go-go ♪

1382
01:31:35.157 --> 01:31:37.993
♪ I don't wanna miss it
when you hit that high ♪

1383
01:31:38.076 --> 01:31:39.828
(faintly over speaker):
♪ You put the boom-boom into my heart... ♪

1384
01:31:39.912 --> 01:31:41.038
(wind howling)

1385
01:31:41.121 --> 01:31:44.458
NARRATOR:
Sol 5,176.

1386
01:31:44.541 --> 01:31:48.921
It has been over 60 sols
since we lost contact with Opportunity.

1387
01:31:50.088 --> 01:31:52.633
It may be weeks before the sky is clear.

1388
01:31:52.716 --> 01:31:55.594
♪ Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo ♪

1389
01:31:55.677 --> 01:31:58.472
♪ Wake me up before you go-go ♪

1390
01:31:58.555 --> 01:32:01.850
♪ I don't wanna miss it
when you hit that high... ♪

1391
01:32:01.934 --> 01:32:04.686
NARRATOR:
Sol 5,210.

1392
01:32:04.770 --> 01:32:07.773
After almost 100 sols
without contact,

1393
01:32:07.856 --> 01:32:12.361
the team is waiting with anticipation
to hear from Opportunity.

1394
01:32:12.444 --> 01:32:16.323
♪ I wanna hit that high ♪

1395
01:32:16.406 --> 01:32:18.200
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

1396
01:32:18.283 --> 01:32:20.661
♪ You take the gray skies out of my way ♪

1397
01:32:20.744 --> 01:32:23.705
♪ You make the sun shine brighter
than Doris Day... ♪

1398
01:32:27.793 --> 01:32:29.795
NARRATOR:
It has now been more than six months

1399
01:32:29.878 --> 01:32:32.464
since last contact with Opportunity.

1400
01:32:32.547 --> 01:32:35.759
The dust storm is finally over.

1401
01:32:35.842 --> 01:32:37.970
MANNING:
So, I had hopes that she would just...

1402
01:32:38.053 --> 01:32:40.806
(makes whooshing sound) ...wake up
and say, "Oh, we're-we're alive."

1403
01:32:40.889 --> 01:32:43.642
♪ Everything will be all right. ♪

1404
01:32:43.725 --> 01:32:45.936
(song ends)

1405
01:32:46.019 --> 01:32:47.938
But it just didn't happen.

1406
01:32:49.856 --> 01:32:52.985
SIEGFRIEDT:
She has autonomy on board

1407
01:32:53.068 --> 01:32:55.112
to wake up at certain times,

1408
01:32:55.195 --> 01:32:57.322
and we know when that alarm will go off,

1409
01:32:57.406 --> 01:32:59.908
so we earthlings can try
and communicate with her.

1410
01:32:59.992 --> 01:33:03.954
So, every day at that time,
we would try and try.

1411
01:33:09.167 --> 01:33:12.713
NARRATOR: ...we have begun
commanding more aggressively.

1412
01:33:14.172 --> 01:33:18.719
We are listening every day
for Opportunity to talk to us.

1413
01:33:18.802 --> 01:33:20.595
(static droning)

1414
01:33:20.679 --> 01:33:22.681
♪ ♪

1415
01:33:27.728 --> 01:33:32.649
SIEGFRIEDT: So, NASA declared
we were gonna try one last time

1416
01:33:32.733 --> 01:33:35.569
to try and communicate with Opportunity
and wake her up.

1417
01:33:44.911 --> 01:33:48.790
ELLISON: We were just staring out onto
the floor of what's called the Dark Room.

1418
01:33:48.874 --> 01:33:51.376
That's where we...
you know, for a decade and a half,

1419
01:33:51.460 --> 01:33:54.379
all the commands
had been sent to both rovers.

1420
01:33:54.463 --> 01:33:56.465
♪ ♪

1421
01:34:02.012 --> 01:34:04.139
It's like, "Just wake up.

1422
01:34:04.222 --> 01:34:06.016
"We'll make it all better.

1423
01:34:08.185 --> 01:34:10.270
And we'll get back to exploring."

1424
01:34:22.449 --> 01:34:24.451
(static droning)

1425
01:34:28.205 --> 01:34:29.873
SIEGFRIEDT:
Seconds go by,

1426
01:34:29.956 --> 01:34:32.959
a minute goes by,
and at that point, we know.

1427
01:34:35.796 --> 01:34:40.592
FRAEMAN:
And I just had the most vivid flashback

1428
01:34:40.675 --> 01:34:42.844
to landing night,

1429
01:34:42.928 --> 01:34:47.391
standing there
as a 16-year-old in that same room

1430
01:34:47.474 --> 01:34:50.394
and just realizing
what I wanted to do with my life.

1431
01:34:50.477 --> 01:34:52.896
-(Fraeman chuckles)
-(cheering)

1432
01:35:01.988 --> 01:35:04.991
But the journey was over.

1433
01:35:07.327 --> 01:35:09.538
And it all just kind of hit me at once.

1434
01:35:16.044 --> 01:35:19.840
SQUYRES: The operations team said, "Hey,
we wanted to give you the opportunity

1435
01:35:19.923 --> 01:35:22.342
to pick the final rover wake-up song."

1436
01:35:24.219 --> 01:35:26.638
I had never picked a rover wake-up song,

1437
01:35:26.721 --> 01:35:29.641
and I really wanted to pick
something that felt right.

1438
01:35:31.101 --> 01:35:34.479
And in the end, the song that I picked was

1439
01:35:34.563 --> 01:35:39.151
about the ending of a relationship.

1440
01:35:39.234 --> 01:35:41.945
And it's... (stifled sobs)

1441
01:35:42.028 --> 01:35:45.240
("I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday
playing)

1442
01:35:45.323 --> 01:35:49.870
It's this feeling of gratitude
for the relationship that we had.

1443
01:35:52.539 --> 01:35:55.125
(indistinct chatter over phone)

1444
01:35:55.208 --> 01:35:57.377
MER project off the net.

1445
01:35:57.461 --> 01:35:59.963
♪ ♪

1446
01:36:00.046 --> 01:36:07.012
♪ I'll be seeing you ♪

1447
01:36:07.095 --> 01:36:12.893
♪ In all the old familiar places... ♪

1448
01:36:13.977 --> 01:36:16.938
SQUYRES:
I don't have to tell you guys we get...

1449
01:36:17.022 --> 01:36:19.232
emotionally attached
to these vehicles, right?

1450
01:36:19.316 --> 01:36:24.029
I... You know, you use a word
like "love" advisedly, but... (sighs)

1451
01:36:24.112 --> 01:36:25.363
we love these rovers.

1452
01:36:27.240 --> 01:36:29.576
BOYKINS:
As a parent, I'm proud.

1453
01:36:30.619 --> 01:36:32.496
We rewrote the history books.

1454
01:36:33.663 --> 01:36:35.957
But as a human being, I'm really sad.

1455
01:36:36.041 --> 01:36:37.792
Because she was a friend.

1456
01:36:37.876 --> 01:36:41.880
♪ I'll find you ♪

1457
01:36:41.963 --> 01:36:44.382
♪ In the morning sun ♪

1458
01:36:44.466 --> 01:36:48.136
SQUYRES: The whole project was
bound together by that feeling of love.

1459
01:36:48.220 --> 01:36:50.180
♪ And when the night is new... ♪

1460
01:36:50.263 --> 01:36:52.599
You're loving the rover,

1461
01:36:52.682 --> 01:36:55.101
and you're loving the people
who you built it with.

1462
01:36:56.102 --> 01:36:58.813
You're loving the people
who you operated it with

1463
01:36:58.897 --> 01:37:02.901
and tended it with you so lovingly
for so many years.

1464
01:37:04.069 --> 01:37:06.029
ELLISON:
To each and every one of us,

1465
01:37:06.112 --> 01:37:09.032
it has been the privilege of a lifetime.

1466
01:37:09.115 --> 01:37:11.284
And, uh...

1467
01:37:11.368 --> 01:37:14.329
you-you don't... you don't get
an adventure like that twice.

1468
01:37:14.412 --> 01:37:21.294
♪ I'll be seeing you... ♪

1469
01:37:21.378 --> 01:37:24.798
NARRATOR:
Sol 5,352.

1470
01:37:24.881 --> 01:37:27.634
15 years into the mission.

1471
01:37:27.717 --> 01:37:29.719
Since the very first day,

1472
01:37:29.803 --> 01:37:33.723
when she rolled herself
into a hole in one at Eagle Crater,

1473
01:37:33.807 --> 01:37:39.020
Opportunity has affectionately
been called the lucky rover.

1474
01:37:39.104 --> 01:37:44.943
And now, after receiving
13,744 command files

1475
01:37:45.026 --> 01:37:48.738
and lasting 5,262 sols

1476
01:37:48.822 --> 01:37:53.034
past her original retirement age
of 90 sols,

1477
01:37:53.118 --> 01:37:58.498
Opportunity's incredible journey
has come to its end.

1478
01:37:58.582 --> 01:38:01.001
Good night, Opportunity.

1479
01:38:01.084 --> 01:38:02.544
Well done.

1480
01:38:02.627 --> 01:38:08.883
♪ I'll be looking at the moon ♪

1481
01:38:08.967 --> 01:38:13.638
♪ But I'll be ♪

1482
01:38:13.722 --> 01:38:21.521
♪ Seeing you. ♪

1483
01:38:24.774 --> 01:38:26.776
(song ends)

1484
01:38:33.408 --> 01:38:36.077
BOYKINS:
This arc of exploration,

1485
01:38:36.161 --> 01:38:39.581
which is anchored
in Spirit and Opportunity...

1486
01:38:41.082 --> 01:38:43.960
...now leads to the next rover.

1487
01:38:44.044 --> 01:38:45.879
♪ ♪

1488
01:38:45.962 --> 01:38:49.966
Perseverance will be the granddaughter
of Spirit and Opportunity.

1489
01:38:51.676 --> 01:38:56.890
Her essence is built on the backbone
of those rovers in front of her.

1490
01:38:57.974 --> 01:38:59.976
SIEGFRIEDT:
Milo, you ready to launch the rocket?

1491
01:39:00.060 --> 01:39:02.062
(giggling)

1492
01:39:03.563 --> 01:39:04.981
♪ ♪

1493
01:39:06.149 --> 01:39:11.279
I became pregnant with my second child
when Perseverance was getting built.

1494
01:39:14.407 --> 01:39:17.994
And it was almost like
the rover was in a little NICU.

1495
01:39:19.454 --> 01:39:23.541
And we were all looking over her--
our next baby.

1496
01:39:24.793 --> 01:39:28.505
DERROL NAIL: What a beautiful morning
here on the Space Coast.

1497
01:39:28.588 --> 01:39:30.757
-I'm Derrol Nail.
-And I'm Moogega Cooper.

1498
01:39:30.840 --> 01:39:32.842
In the 50 minutes leading up to launch,

1499
01:39:32.926 --> 01:39:35.261
we will show you
how this mission will reach

1500
01:39:35.345 --> 01:39:38.014
and search for ancient microscopic life
on Mars

1501
01:39:38.098 --> 01:39:40.141
and test new technologies
critical to the ultimate goal:

1502
01:39:40.225 --> 01:39:42.143
future human missions to Mars.

1503
01:39:42.227 --> 01:39:43.770
MANNING:
It's part of our tradition.

1504
01:39:45.230 --> 01:39:47.315
Is open up peanuts.

1505
01:39:51.528 --> 01:39:52.946
Do you want some?

1506
01:39:53.029 --> 01:39:55.657
(indistinct chatter)

1507
01:39:58.034 --> 01:40:01.996
TREBI-OLLENNU: Some people think
planetary exploration is very foreign,

1508
01:40:02.080 --> 01:40:07.085
but I always remind them, you know,
when your forefathers walked the planet,

1509
01:40:07.168 --> 01:40:10.839
the first thing they did is
they looked to the heavens.

1510
01:40:10.922 --> 01:40:12.465
And what did they see?

1511
01:40:12.549 --> 01:40:15.301
Constellations and stars,
wonderful things.

1512
01:40:15.385 --> 01:40:17.178
What did they do with that?

1513
01:40:17.262 --> 01:40:20.640
They use the heavens...

1514
01:40:20.724 --> 01:40:23.017
to come up with a calendar,

1515
01:40:23.101 --> 01:40:26.688
to know when to plant
and to know when to harvest.

1516
01:40:26.771 --> 01:40:28.732
MAN (over speaker):
Flight mission, copy. It's go time.

1517
01:40:28.815 --> 01:40:31.526
TREBI-OLLENNU: And they did it
from the confines of Earth.

1518
01:40:31.609 --> 01:40:36.364
So, planetary exploration
has been with us from the beginning,

1519
01:40:36.448 --> 01:40:38.533
and we're using it the same way

1520
01:40:38.616 --> 01:40:40.660
that our forefathers have done
for generations--

1521
01:40:40.744 --> 01:40:43.246
to make life better on Earth.

1522
01:40:43.329 --> 01:40:45.373
MAN:
Two, one, zero.

1523
01:40:45.457 --> 01:40:46.750
(rumbling)

1524
01:40:46.833 --> 01:40:48.668
Release and liftoff.

1525
01:40:52.213 --> 01:40:54.215
♪ ♪

1526
01:41:19.282 --> 01:41:21.284
♪ ♪

1527
01:41:41.805 --> 01:41:43.640
Milo, look.

1528
01:41:43.723 --> 01:41:45.809
-What is it?
-Rocket.

1529
01:41:45.892 --> 01:41:48.228
-That's right.
-(laughing)

1530
01:41:48.311 --> 01:41:50.939
And the rover.

1531
01:41:51.022 --> 01:41:52.565
SIEGFRIEDT:
The rover. That's right.

1532
01:41:52.649 --> 01:41:54.192
The rover's inside.

1533
01:41:54.275 --> 01:41:56.277
♪ ♪

1534
01:42:10.166 --> 01:42:12.168
♪ ♪

1535
01:42:42.198 --> 01:42:44.200
♪ ♪

1536
01:43:14.230 --> 01:43:16.232
♪ ♪

1537
01:43:46.262 --> 01:43:48.264
♪ ♪

1538
01:44:18.294 --> 01:44:20.296
♪ ♪

1539
01:44:50.326 --> 01:44:52.328
(music fades)