Original subtitles

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- The sky above is studded with stars

and countless galaxies.

In them, we can read not only our origin

but also our final destination.

The first phase of our journey is complete.

We are ready to undertake the second.

With robotics, advanced technologies, and sheer daring,

we are now going to places

that before we only dreamt we might ever reach.

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- It was here at Peenemünde on the Baltic Coast

where the opening shots of the space race were fired.

Not an auspicious occasion.

The backdrop to this extraordinary effort was world war.

The chief engineer did mutter, however,

"The rocket functioned perfectly,

"it just hit the wrong planet."

Time and tide have changed that frontier.

Now science and commercial imperatives lead the way.

Our push into the new frontier is now genuine and humane,

guided by science and the hunger for discovery.

Soon it will be underpinned

by the commercial realities of tourism and mining.

Research and engineering advances are ongoing.

New communications and sensing technologies,

new space systems for advanced aerobraking,

new materials and manufacturing processes

for new spacecraft,

and safer launch systems,

all aimed squarely at a return to the moon.

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Then onto Mars for a long term stay.

- The human flight component I would like to see

an experiment where resources on the surface of Mars,

from the rocks or the atmosphere

could be used to generate fuel

or other parts that would

enable future exploration

and cutting the tie, so to speak, to Earth.

You wouldn't necessarily have to bring everything with you,

you could actually manufacture it on the planet,

and that's a really exciting additional component

that we've been exploring and analyzing in this work.

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- This will extend our reach even further,

with planned excursions to the asteroids and comets

giving us access to even greater resources.

At the same time,

it would help us protect Earth from wayward objects

posing a threat to our planet.

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Then there is the challenge of the greater solar system

visiting the outer planets and their moons.

Jupiter's Europa,

Callisto, Ganymede.

Or Saturn's Enceladus,

a potential life-harboring location.

Or cloud-covered Titan,

which holds vast hydrocarbon resources.

Then, the great interstellar voyages

to other stars and other planets,

like HD189733b, a gas giant,

or Gliese 1214b, a water world,

or even Kepler-186f, a nearby Earth-like planet.

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Our first stop in this journey takes us into orbit,

where we can continue to look down

at the world's changing environment

and study the planet we call home.

- We humans are mere passengers

on board this vessel called Earth.

We cannot control the direction she takes,

how fast she spins,

but we can influence our complex and dynamic

ecological climate engine.

To study this machine that sustains us,

scientists have used satellites

as one of their primary tools.

Of the 6,600 satellites launched so far,

some 3,600 remain in orbit,

with only 1,000 still operational.

- There are two main sorts of satellites

that we use for weather forecasting.

The first sort is the geostationary satellite.

These geostationary satellites are launched into orbit

at 36,000 kilometers above the earth's surface,

and at this height they orbit the earth

precisely once per day.

I can illustrate it like this:

the earth rotates around its axes

on a 24 hour basis

and at the same time, the satellite orbits the earth

so it always stays over the same point of the earth.

This way, it takes an image of the earth,

now with our MSG series, every 15 minutes

and it can provide very high, rapid update cycles

from that data.

The other main source of weather satellites we have

are the polar orbiters.

These orbit the earth at a much lower altitude,

about 800 kilometers,

and they orbit pretty much over the north and south pole

in what we call a sun-synchronous orbit.

Because they're much lower down,

they're able to provide us with a much more detailed view

of the earth and the atmosphere.

- The complexity of the earth climate model

is due to a range of variable inputs

from solar radiation,

solar winds, magnetic fields,

gravity, thermal absorption,

to water temperature and salinity,

ice and cloud coverage,

carbon dioxide and other trace gases in the atmosphere,

to name just a few.

The first order of business

has been to monitor our weather.

Maximum scientific value

comes from long term data gathering.

It has to be reliable, continuous, and uninterrupted.

To this end, ESA and EUMETSAT

have launched their latest satellite, MetOp-B.

- MetOp-B is particularly important

to provide continuity of this data.

This data has the largest single impact

into the weather forecasting system,

so it's very important that we maintain this capability,

and for climate purposes it's very important

that we maintain a continuous record in time.

- Apart from accurate weather data,

it also carries a GOME

or global ozone monitoring experiment.

It monitors ozone concentrations in the polar regions.

- This is a instrument that measures

in the ultraviolet, invisible part of the spectrum

to retrieve information on the ozone structure

in the atmosphere,

which is particularly important for understanding

the recovery of the ozone hole

and also it's now used within weather forecasting itself.

- Weather forecasting is important for everybody

because weather impacts a large amount of society,

economic aspects.

It impacts every day's life.

Satellites improve weather forecasting,

so improved forecasting enables us

to provide earlier warnings,

better warnings, give us more time to warn.

- There is now a concerted and coordinated effort

by the major space agencies,

NASA, ESA, and JAXA,

along with their international partners,

to launch a series of next generation

Earth observation satellites,

each with specific instrumentation,

to address the many variables making up our climate.

Joint partners NASA and Japanese Space Agency

have launched an international satellite mission, GPM.

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission

has set a new standard of observation

of rain and snow worldwide.

GPM consists of a core satellite

with eight constellation satellites.

With precipitation radar

and a microwave radiometer,

the system will collect global data every three hours.

- The GMI produces a critical reference standard

which unifies all the member satellites

of the GPM constellation.

The instrument has 13 channels

and this greater sensitivity allows GPM

to measure a greater variety

of precipitation type and intensity.

Each channel has a frequency range

that can detect a different type of precipitation.

Scientific algorithms then translate

the GMI's brightness temperature data

into more meaningful products,

such as rain rates.

Because GPM's coverage extends beyond the tropics,

measuring storms like these

in the mid and high latitudes

will improve and expand the global view of precipitation.

- Conducted with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency

and the space agencies of France, India, and China,

the GPM mission data will advance our understanding

of the water and energy cycles

and extend the use of precipitation data

to directly benefit society.

- Two major components of Earth's climate system

are the water cycle and ocean circulation.

The joint US Argentinian

Aquarius Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas mission

can map the salinity or the concentration of dissolved salt

at the ocean's surface.

By measuring ocean salinity from space,

Aquarius will provide new insight

into how the massive natural exchange

of fresh water between the ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice

influences ocean circulation, weather, and climate.

One of the oldest and most venerable

satellite missions to date is Landsat,

a NASA and US Geological Society project

begun in 1972

with the launch of the first Landsat satellite.

It is the longest running contiguous Earth imaging program.

The eighth of the series is currently in orbit.

- It orbits over the north and south poles,

taking imagery on the sunlit side of the earth

every time it passes.

- The Landsat 8 satellite

makes 14 orbits per day

and covers the entire globe every 16 days.

- The data from the Landsat data continuity mission

will be the best data that have ever been collected

from a Landsat satellite.

With increasing population,

our land use are changing at a rate

unprecedented in human history.

To manage and cope with these changes,

we need to have the observations, the information, the data

that allow us to understand what's going on

on the surface of the earth where most of us live.

- The data collected over 40 years of the earth's surface

has created an historic archive

unmatched in quality, detail, and coverage.

- Landsat archive that contains all the US held data

from all of the Landsat satellites

and the LDCM data will become part of that archive.

- The Landsat program offers free to anyone

the longest global record of the earth's surface

and it will continue to deliver visually stunning

and scientifically valuable images of our planet.

However, the earth's surface is predominantly water,

measuring the topography of the oceans

is another challenge altogether.

Begun by the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite,

a joint effort of NASA

and France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales

and continued by the Jason-1 satellite,

their latest mission is Jason-2,

continuing to provide a long term survey of Earth's oceans.

It measures changes in the height of the sea surface.

These are used to understand shifts in ocean currents

as well as sea level rise,

both critical parts of global climate change.

The data is used around the world

to improve weather, climate, and ocean forecasts.

Another oceangoing measurement

is the speed and direction of the winds.

The sea winds scatterometer

is a specialized microwave radar

that measures near surface wind.

The scatterometer estimates wind speed and direction

over the earth's oceans at 10 meters

above the surface of the water.

The instrument collects data over ocean, land, and ice

in a continuous 1,800 kilometer wide band,

making approximately 400,000 measurements

and covering 90% of Earth's surface in one day.

Earlier satellites could only image

the uppermost layers of clouds.

CloudSat was among the first satellites

to study clouds on a global basis.

It looked at their structure, composition, and effect.

The key observations are the vertical profiles

of cloud liquid water and ice water contents

and related cloud physical and radiative properties.

CloudSat flies in tight formation

with the CALIPSO satellite,

carrying a backscattering lidar,

and these two satellites follow behind the Aqua satellite

in a somewhat looser formation.

- When we started with airs on Aqua,

we had two goals defined to us before the mission started.

One, provide data to the nation's

weather forecasting center, which is NOAA,

and improve weather forecasting.

That was the first goal achieved

and we, the science team, felt good.

The second goal was improve our understanding of

the climate system.

The water vapor.

That is the main mechanism by which

water and climate is formed here on Earth.

- The combination of data from the three satellites

provides a rich source of information

that can be used to assess the role of clouds

in both weather and climate.

- The European Space Agency's Earth Explorer program

has seen several high tech satellites play their part

in our understanding of the global climate.

- We have launched three missions meanwhile

with fantastic results

and we are innovative technology.

- SMOS, the Soil, Moisture, and Salinity satellite

observe soil moisture over the land

and salinity in the oceans.

CryoSat, the ice mission,

measure the thickness of the massive ice sheets

over Greenland and Antarctica

and the marine ice in the Arctic.

It used the sophisticated stereo radar system

and has helped give us a better understanding

of the relationship between ice and global warming.

GOCE measure Earth's gravity field

with unprecedented accuracy.

A geoid model is crucial for deriving accurate measurements

of ocean circulation and sea level change,

both of which are affected by climate change.

This data reveal the earth to be lumpy

and quite variable across the planet.

It has led to a new map of the boundary

between the earth's crust and mantle.

Another piece in the climate puzzle,

and a critical one,

is the earth's magnetic field.

- The earth's magnetic field is our lifesaver,

there's no doubt about this.

This shield is basically protecting us

from the harmful effect of the solar wind,

these high energy particles

that the sun is constantly bombarding us with,

and the shield is really essential for us

and for our protection.

The main magnetic field of the earth is changing in time

and it is weakening by a factor of 10, 15% or so

over the last 200 years,

and what's actually going on in the outer core of the planet

is what we really try to find out.

The magnetometer package,

it measures the magnitude

and also the direction of the earth magnetic field,

and it does so in two locations.

One, it has an instrument at the tip of the boom

and also another instrument halfway down the boom

and together they give all this precise information

that we needed to decipher the secrets

of the earth's magnetic field.

- ESA is now developing a new family of missions

called Sentinels as part of their Copernicus program.

- It is not sufficient to monitor

the evolution of the ice cap

or to monitor the sea level rise

during five years and then stop.

We really need to monitor those things

over a very long time period

and this is what Copernicus will bring.

It will bring a long term frame

for continuous monitoring of our environment.

- Sentinal-1A is the first of a two satellite mission

that will scan land and oceans using advanced radar

to deliver imagery, regardless of weather.

- Copernicus is the most ambitious

Earth observation program to date.

The European Space Agency is putting together

six families of Sentinels

that will take care of the objectives

of the Copernicus program.

Monitoring the land,

the mudding environment,

the atmosphere,

climate change,

and providing a fast response

to security and emergencies.

- In total, there will be six Sentinel missions,

each pair of satellites devoted to specific observations.

- Each Sentinel has a specific duty.

Sentinel-1 is more specifically tailored

to emergency response,

Sentinel-2 is focused on monitoring of the land,

Sentinel-3 together with Sentinel-6

is focused on the monitoring of the ocean and waters.

Sentinel-4 together with Sentinel-5

especially tailored to the monitoring of the atmosphere.

- The International Space Station

is also host to several climate centers.

Currently the CATS or Cloud-Aerosol Transport System

is mounted on the Japanese experiment module.

Using blank detection and a ranging lidar system,

it detects and measures pollution, dust, smoke,

and other aerosols in the atmosphere.

NASA will be installing another instrument,

the RapidScat,

onto the end of the station's Columbus module this year.

It will measure ocean surface wind speed and direction

and help improve forecasting and hurricane warnings.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was NASA's first satellite

dedicated to the tracking of carbon in the atmosphere,

how it is reabsorbed into the biomass and where.

Unfortunately, a launch failure has caused

a reschedule of the project.

- But we need the measurements

that spacecraft like OCO will make

in order to understand the processes controlling

the rate of buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

so that we can understand how it will change in the future.

- Other projects in motion include

the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus

with its high powered UV laser

which will measure wind speed, air moisture,

and dust particles

to advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics.

EarthCARE will study how the earth

reflects and traps heat.

Biomass will study the state of the earth's forests.

NASA's CLARREO satellite

will measure incident solar irradiance

and the earth energy budget.

SMAP, the Soil Moisture Active Passive,

is an earth satellite mission

designed to measure and map earth soil moisture

and freeze thaw state

to better understand terrestrial water,

carbon, and energy cycles.

The suite of satellites now in orbit

and planned for the near future will be able to peer

beneath the clouds, vegetation, and other surface features,

monitor water salinity,

temperature and energy fluxes,

chart ocean currents,

and the change in ice caps.

All this data is helping to improve

our understanding of climate change

and also helping in a practical sense,

with flood and drought monitoring,

hurricane and cyclone warnings,

understanding changes in water availability,

food production, and the other societal impacts

of climate change.

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