All language subtitles for Making.Tracks.On.Mars.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.BZ].en

Narrator: Inside this rocket

Is the rover that could find
life on mars if it lands.

Grant: We've got to go from

Thousands of miles an
hour to zero

And not do a bug
on a windshield.

The new rover is
called perseverance.

Zimbelman: Perseverance is the
most sophisticated

Piece of robotic hardware ever
launched off of the earth.

Narrator: It will search
mars for signs of life

While smithsonian scientists
roam the earth for reference.

Purdy: The search for life is
one of the biggest questions

Humans have.

Narrator: Previous
rovers set the stage.

Now perseverance could reset
our view of the universe.

Schulte: We're gonna get
one shot at this.

Narrator: Meet the rocket,
the rover and the helicopter

That could change how we
explore mars and beyond.

It's all riding on perseverance.

(ambient music)

February 18th, 2021.

The sky is orange.

Under bright sunshine, it's
minus 80 degrees fahrenheit.

The 8-year old curiosity
rover dutifully carries on.

Otherwise, mars is
quiet as a desert.

But here comes the
new kid on the block.

After seven months of smooth
sailing through space,

The bumpy ride begins.

Schulte: As the
spacecraft encounters,

The upper part of the
atmosphere it will heat up.

Once it slows down enough,

Then the heat
shield will come off

And we will deploy a parachute.

Grant: But we're still literally

Hurtling towards the surface,

Even after being on that
parachute for a ways.

(dramatic music)

Remember, this is
a car-sized object

That weighs almost a ton.

Narrator: No human steers it

But it has just seven
minutes to thread the needle,

Or this next martian
explorer will crash and burn.

(upbeat music)

Meet perseverance,
our newest mars rover.

(upbeat music)

Purdy: It's a huge beast
of a machine

And it is chock full of
scientific instruments

That are going to explore
the surface of mars.

Narrator: At nasa's
jet propulsion laboratory

In california, perseverance
comes together in a clean room.

If it's going to find life, it
can't bring any life with it.

Stricker: It's really important
to make sure that

We send a clean
rover to mars because

If we do find something on
mars, we have to make sure

It's something that
actually came from mars

And not something
that hitched a ride.

(upbeat music)

Narrator: They're building
the most complex rover ever.

Including 23 different cameras.

Mastcam-z mimics human eyesight

By capturing stereo panoramas.

A chemistry cam
on the robotic arm

Can zero in on the
tiniest fragment.

And for the first time ever,

Video cameras will record the
rover's descent and landing

From four angles.

Grant: So with perseverance,
for the first time,

We effectively have the
opportunity to make movies.

Narrator: Some of these
cameras reach 5k resolution.

(clicking)

That will beat the pixels off of

(clicking)

This.

(dramatic music)

Grant: Prior to 1965, the
best views of mars

Came from earth
-based telescopes.

We really had no idea

Of what the detailed
surface of mars looked like.

(upbeat music)

Narrator: In the absence
of data, humans dreamed.

We had centuries to conjure
up ideas about mars,

Some scientific, some silly.

Purdy: The popular view of mars
is that it did have life,

There were aliens on it.

You have this entire sci-fi
industry built upon that.

Man: You speak wisely.
I will go.

Narrator: Nothing
said martian fantasy

Quite like "little green men."

Man: I know. I don't think

You'll be causing any
more trouble.

Narrator: Creative minds
careened out of control.

Until

July 14, 1965.

Earthlings in california
anxiously await a signal

From their latest
attempt to reach mars.

Man: Two, eight (indistinct)

Narrator: The first
two spacecraft failed.

But mariner 4 has a shot.

(dramatic music)

Purdy: It was intended to take

A few pictures of the
surface as it flew by.

Narrator: After
a 7-month journey,

Mariner 4 has less
than 30 minutes

To get the first
close-ups of mars.

Grant: The idea that you're
gonna see something

For the very first
time, if it works,

Is not only cause for
tremendous excitement,

But also tremendous
trepidation. Will it work?

Narrator: Images
comes in as data,

Taking six hours per picture.

(dramatic music)

Finally, the printer
comes to life.

But mars looks dead.

Grant: The initial reaction was,

"oh my gosh, it
looks like the moon."

(dramatic music)

Purdy: It was just this sort of
dry, desolate, cratered surface

And I think that that kind of
punched a hole in the whole

Romantic idea that
there were martians.

Narrator: Mariner
4 snaps just 22 photos

As it blows by mars

But they rock our little
corner of the cosmos.

(dramatic music)

Zimbelman: That was
an enormous surprise

And the beginning of
our understanding

That mars is not the

Mars of science fiction.

But I think as a geologist,
it's an even better place

With all of these amazing
things to look at.

Narrator: With each mission,

Mars comes into better focus.

(dramatic music)

Mariner 6 takes 75 photos.

Mariner 7 snaps 126.

Then our first
orbiter, mariner 9,

Circles mars for nearly a year

And takes more than 7000 shots.

Grant: Mars was sort of
unveiled globally

For the first time
to human eyes.

(dramatic music )

Narrator: Now we see
more than just craters.

We see canyons and what
look like dry riverbeds.

Grant: There were clearly
branching systems

Of channels that were merging
in a downhill direction

And of course, the most likely
and logical origin for those

Was by running water.

Narrator: Mariner
9 doesn't reveal

When or why the
water disappeared

But it jolts us
toward a new theory.

Maybe mars isn't like the moon.

Maybe it used to be more like

Earth.

Smithsonian
scientist, ross irwin,

Studies how water
can shape a planet

And possibly spark life.

Irwin: About three and a
half billion years ago,

Mars had many rivers
on its surface,

Which were about this
size and carved valleys

About the size of
the one behind me.

When the mariner 9
spacecraft arrived at mars,

It was a surprise to
see these river valleys

All over the place.

Narrator: Subsequent missions

Revealed other earth
-like features.

Irwin: In some cases, we
have alluvial fans

Where erosion of
a mountain front

Has deposited sediment in a fan

Out across the floor of a basin.

And then we also have deltas.

And just like river deltas
that you see here on the earth,

These river deltas on
mars represent deposits of

Sediment out into
a standing water.

(dramatic music)

All of these eroded river
valleys and sedimentary deposits

Were compelling evidence
of flowing water

On the surface of mars,

But it left a lot of
unanswered questions.

How long was the water there?

Were these environments
really favorable

For the origin and
persistence of life?

Narrator: If ancient mars
had surface water long enough,

It may have supported
life and left evidence

Just like on earth.

Irwin: This type of rock
is very good for

Preserving evidence
of past habitability.

So it's not just
indications that

This environment may have
been suitable for life,

But it's also very good
at preserving evidence

Left behind by life itself.

Obviously on mars, we're
not looking for fossils,

But we're looking
for indications of

Whether there was bacteria
on the surface of mars

During these wetter periods
early in its history.

Narrator: The only way
to look that closely at mars

Was to get on the ground.

Mariner 4 did a drive-by.

Mariner 9 kept circling
around the block.

Then viking opened the door.

(intense dramatic music)

Schulte: The anticipation for
these missions was very high.

These landers were going
to soft-land on the surface

And actually look
for evidence of life

In the surface
materials of mars.

(intense dramatic music)

Narrator: In
1976, viking skids

Into the martian atmosphere.

It will either make
history, or crash violently.

(intense dramatic music)

Building perseverance to
operate successfully on mars

Is one challenge.

Getting it to mars is another.

About every two years, the
orbits of earth and mars

Put them in the same
general neighborhood

But still millions
of miles apart.

Grant: Mars is really far away

And getting the spacecraft
there to a specific point

Is something that
requires incredible time

And attention to detail to
make sure it happens correctly.

Narrator: We did it
incorrectly plenty of times.

Schulte: In the very early days,

We had mishaps on
the launch pad.

We had spacecraft
fail to achieve orbit.

We've had spacecraft hard
impact on the surface.

We miscalculated trajectories.

We've had spacecraft
that have had various

Hardware problems.

Man: The last I heard is that
there was some funny business

In the first 10
-picture recording.

Schulte: Getting to mars
is very, very hard.

Narrator: Enter viking,
america's first attempt

To land on mars.

Grant: With viking, there was
very much of an element

Of a mission into the unknown

(rocket launching)

Narrator: Nasa launches
two viking landers,

Hoping that at least
one lands safely.

Purdy: A huge amount
is at stake.

If you don't land safely,
you don't get any science.

Narrator: On July 20th, 1976,

Viking 1 begins the
landing sequence.

It's too far away
to control in real time.

(dramatic music)

Viking is on its own.

(dramatic music continues)

Famed astronomer carl sagan,
joins the mission team

For the nervous moment.

It's his first taste of the
seven minutes of terror.

Grant: There's this
period of time

That the spacecraft has
to go through, on its own,

To land on the surface safely.

(dramatic music)

Schulte: That process takes
about seven minutes

From the time it hits the
top of mars's atmosphere

Until wheels down
on the surface.

So we call that "the
seven minutes of terror."

Man: 66 feet, 73
feet per second. Come on.

Man 2: Acs is
close to vertical.

Nav is green for touchdown.

Narrator: Finally, viking
1 signals from the surface.

Man: Touchdown,
we have touchdown.

(cheering)

Purdy: Oh my gosh.

I think landing on mars
for the first time,

It's just the most
thrilling and exciting thing

That you could imagine.

Landing on another planet
and then having it open up

And get your first
image of a place that

No human has ever seen.

(intense dramatic music)

Zimbelman: July 20th, I
turn on the tv

And there was a picture
of mars from the surface

And it didn't look at all like
what I would have guessed.

Schulte: It looked like being in
the desert southwest of the u.S.

People could really relate

To what they were seeing
on the surface of mars

I think for the very
first time, because

It was sort of like you
were standing there.

(intense dramatic music)

Narrator: Viking 2
lands a few months later.

Neither lander finds existing
life or standing water.

But they begin a new era
of space exploration.

Purdy: We had landed
on another planet

And that view will be
forever in the textbooks.

Narrator: The landers
send back mountains of data

But they can't move.

Grant: They were fixed in
one place on the surface

And there's always this sort of

What if we could just get
to that rock over there?

Narrator: Viking
was groundbreaking

But it wasn't pathfinding.

Grant: And so I think that
there's this natural progression

To wanna build mobility
in the form of a rover

Into a subsequent mission

That allows us to
answer those questions.

Narrator: Twenty years
after the viking missions,

Nasa embarks on a
remarkable test drive.

Grant: So sojourner was
a very little rover,

It was basically a
microwave on wheels,

If you think about
something along a

Sort of size comparison.

Narrator: It's
named after civil

And women's rights
pioneer sojourner truth

And it hopes to pioneer a
new way to explore mars.

Schulte: It was primarily
designed to be a demonstration

That we could send a
rover to another planet

And have it operate
successfully.

Narrator: It's tucked inside
a lander called pathfinder

And both rocket off to
try to make history.

Man: Main engine start

One, zero and liftoff

Of the delta rocket
with mars pathfinder.

Man 1: Landers separation.

Narrator: After
landing and waking up,

The spacecraft rolls out
the first martian rover.

Man: Data.

Woman: We have imaging data.

Man: Yes!

Narrator: Even
though it never ventures

More than 40 feet
from the lander,

Sojourner makes the first
tracks on mars in 1997.

Grant: This is a game
changer. Sojourner was

Kind of a turning point in
mars exploration because

Until that point I hadn't
personally fully appreciated

What mobility could get for you.

Narrator: Mobility
is now the main focus.

(instrumental music)

The new rover, perseverance,
practices her moves

In what nasa calls
the "mars yard".

(instrumental music continues)

Morgan: So we're here
in the mars yard

And this is where
our rovers practice

Driving over rocky terrain,

To make sure we can get the
best science possible on mars

And go to the most exciting
places we can get to

With the rover.

(upbeat music)

Narrator: Each wheel
has an independent motor

And cleats for traction
in the fine martian sand.

Legs are made of titanium,

The same lightweight metal
used in the best bicycles.

Perseverance has to
be strong and nimble

If it's going to
break new ground.

Morgan: Often the most
exciting geology outcrops

That we wanna study on mars

Are often the most
challenging to go to.

Narrator: But it
will not go fast.

Top speed is less than
0.1 miles per hour.

Interplanetary driving
is a cautious business.

Grant: We're not talking
about daytona speedway

In terms of they're
moving around.

Narrator: But what
it lacks in speed,

It has in scientific bling.

Zilbelman: Perseverance is the
most sophisticated

Piece of robotic hardware ever
launched off of the earth.

Narrator: It has a
7-foot long robotic arm

To reach out and
analyze the terrain.

Lasers to see
different wavelengths.

Spectrometers to identify
different compounds.

It's a weather station, rock
hound and chemistry lab.

All of it is designed
to finally answer

Humanity's biggest question.

Grant: Are we unique
in the universe?

Perseverance is the first rover

That really has the capability

To get in and maybe help
answer that question

Of whether there was
ever life on mars.

Narrator: The search
began with viking.

Continued with
pathfinder and sojourner.

But bigger could be better.

Nasa starts work on twin
rovers that dwarf sojourner.

Spirit and opportunity
are a bold gamble.

(upbeat music)

The new mars rover,
perseverance,

Is in final assembly.

Scientists can't wait to unleash
it on the martian surface.

Schulte: My job is to oversee

The science that the
rover will do

Once it gets to the
surface of mars.

Narrator: To
get that science,

Mission planners hope it rolls
for at least two earth years

And covers at least 12 miles.

By contrast, our 20th
century martian explorers

Didn't explore very far.

Sojourner didn't venture
more than 15 yards

From the landing spot.

(upbeat music)

It's as if a martian spacecraft
landed in your backyard

And only got as
far as the fence.

But in 2004, twin
rovers take off.

Grant: So the mars exploration
rovers spirit and opportunity

Really became that next step.

We wanted to follow the water.

We want to understand
the role of water

In shaping the
landscape of mars.

(intense dramatic music)

Narrator: Spirit and opportunity

Visit ancient riverbeds

For the first close-up look

At what water left behind

This time, with hands-on tools.

(dramatic music)

Purdy: These guys are about
the size of a golf cart

At this point and
so they're bigger.

They're built as sort
of field geologists,

Robotic field
geologists on mars.

Narrator: Both
rovers roll for miles

And the alien landscape
starts looking familiar.

Grant: And we started
seeing rocks

That had ripple
marks formed in them,

Ripple marks much like you
might see in a riverbed

Where the water is
flowing and transporting

Sand across the surface.

You can walk out your door
and go to the local pond

And see those same
kinds of features.

Narrator: The mission
rolls beyond expectations

And seems to have a bit of luck.

When a wheel fails, spirit
accidentally scrapes up a layer

Of the red sand,
revealing white.

Grant: So this bright
white material

That turns out to be
almost pure silica

Tells us that it was
probably precipitated

From relatively hot
water in a volcanic area.

Narrator: Then
spirit stumbles upon

Another wild discovery.

It beams home a series of images

That could pass for oklahoma.

Dust devils, direct
evidence of martian wind.

Then a mars orbiter
captures a dust devil rising

A half-mile high, casting a
shadow across the landscape.

(dramatic music)

We know that on earth, wind
can be a shape shifter.

Smithsonian's mariah
baker is an expert

At recognizing its handiwork.

Baker: When you go to a desert
or a beach like this,

You can see that wind

Is constantly sculpting
the landscape.

When wind blows over
a sandy surface,

It can cause ripples to
form or dunes like these.

On mars wind does
exactly the same thing.

In fact, it's been the
dominant geologic force

For billions of years since
all the water dried up.

(dramatic music)

Researchers like me

Can go to some of the most
mars-like places on earth,

Like the great sand
dunes in colorado

And the atacama desert in chile

To understand how surface
features form on mars.

Narrator: But at some point
the similarities break down

And the mysteries begin.

Baker: So in this dune,

We can see what are
known as impact ripples,

Which are the smallest surface
features formed by wind.

The smallest impact
ripples that we see

Are formed in fine sand
but larger coarse sand

Forms these larger
wavelength ripples.

And when we arrived at mars

And we saw that
these large ripples

Were also forming in
just fine material,

We realized that we
didn't quite understand

How they formed entirely.

Narrator: This is
where mars gets alien.

Baker: On mars, we've got about
a third of the gravity

That we have here on earth,

Which makes sand a little
bit easier to move.

However, we also have an
atmosphere that's about

A hundred times less dense

Than the atmosphere
here on earth,

Which means that a
40 mile-per-hour wind

Might feel like just
a breeze on our skin

And so we need much
higher wind speeds

To actually move
sand on the surface.

Narrator: But
somehow, martian winds

Can still whip the entire
planet into a frenzy.

Every year, mars throws
a few dust storms

That last for weeks,
but stay local.

On occasion, one of
them goes global.

Purdy: When you have these
occasional global dust storms,

It can basically kick up dust
into the entire atmosphere.

It completely
obscures the surface.

Narrator: In 2018, the sharp
features of mars disappear

In just a few months
as a thick red cloud

Envelops the planet.

The rover, opportunity,
is now almost 15 years old

And has driven
more than 28 miles.

But a big storm is coming.

Looking down,

It sees dust accumulating
on its solar panels.

Looking up, it
sees less and less.

Grant: And suddenly the
sky literally darkens

Over the course of a period
of just a few short days.

And the last image we have

Looking towards the
sun from opportunity

Effectively shows us
in being in darkness.

Schulte: The dust storm
blocked out all sunlight

From reaching the solar panels.

Man: 14 for
project manager.

Man 1: 14.

Narrator: For eight months,
opportunity's mission team

Sends ping after ping to try
to wake up the teenage rover.

Man: Mer 1,
spacecraft id 253.

Purdy: It never, never did power
on again to call home.

Narrator: Finally,
nasa concedes.

Man: This is station 14
on behalf of the network,

It's a sad day for all of us.

Mer project off
the net. Thank you.

Schulte: Because opportunity

Was operating for 14
and a half years,

People got very
attached to the rover.

And I can tell you that the
people who were on those

Conference calls when we
decided to end the mission

Were very sad.

(clapping)

Narrator: Opportunity broke
the mold for rover longevity.

Perseverance is designed
to be even stronger.

Schulte: The first thing the
rover has to survive,

Of course, is all the
testing we do to it.

(dramatic music)

Narrator: They run
perseverance through

Everything mars
could throw at it.

Severe temperature swings,

Down to 200 below
zero fahrenheit.

Blowing dust that could
grind gears and blind cameras

But at least not cut power.

Grant: Perseverance is
nuclear powered.

We don't have to worry
about dust storms.

Narrator: It's called
radioisotope power,

Essentially a nuclear battery.

It converts the heat from
the decay of plutonium

Into electricity.

It could power
perseverance for years,

If it survives the journey.

Grant: You design a rover for
the sort of worst case scenario.

The worst case
shaking on launch,

The worst case hard landing,
all have to be survived.

(intense dramatic music)

Narrator: If
perseverance lands safely,

It will see more than what's
on the surface of mars.

It will take a peek underground
at layers of history.

On earth, we see these layers
at the most unlikely places.

Campbell: When we do geology
on the earth,

We often get fortunate enough
to have a road cut like this

From building a highway

And that road cut allows
us to see the layers

That have built up over time.

Now, in a lot of cases on mars,

We're not going to be
able to get some kind of

Cross-cut through
the terrain like this

And what we have to do is use
a remote sensing instrument

Called ground penetrating radar.

I work on an instrument
called sharad,

The shallow radar on the
mars reconnaissance orbiter.

Sharad transmits signals

And that pulse will travel
down through a layer like this

And each time that signal
bounces back to us,

We build up a cross section,

Just like you see
in the road cut here

In order to tell the geologic
history of that area.

They might be differences
between sand layers

And ice in the polar caps.

But there's no substitute

For being able to
look in greater detail

At what's right below your feet.

The perseverance rover

Will carry an instrument
called rimfax,

Which will measure

The subsurface layers
beneath the rover

Down to a shallower depth than
sharad, perhaps 10 meters,

But with much finer detail.

Now, someday, astronauts may
be able to simply walk up

To an area like this on mars

And make observations
of the geologic history

Through the layering.

But for the time being,

Instruments like sharad
and rimfax are invaluable.

Narrator: Perseverance
is the first rover

That can see underground.

But it also carries something

That could see over the horizon.

(upbeat music)

At nasa's jet propulsion
laboratory in california,

Perseverance has passed
all of its flight tests.

It's a month away
from leaving home.

It's built on the legacy
of the rover that came

Just before it.

Grant: After the spirit
and opportunity

Mars exploration rovers,

Curiosity became sort of
the big sister on the block.

Narrator: In 2012,
curiosity became

The next rover in line for mars.

It's a major upgrade.

Schulte: So it's about the
size of a small suv.

In terms of its
complexity and its size,

It's just far beyond
what we've done before.

Narrator: All
around the country,

Curiosity sparks mars mania.

On landing day, curiosity
creates a buzz in new york city.

At nasa, it creates a roar.

Man: Touchdown confirmed.
We're safe on mars!

(cheering)

Narrator: The biggest
rover yet is safely on mars.

(cheering and clapping)

(indistinct)

It lands inside a
fascinating landscape.

Purdy: Gale crater I think
really is the place on mars

Where you feel like
you are on earth.

(dramatic music)

Schulte: There's evidence that
curiosity has collected

That there was a liquid water
lake inside this crater.

Purdy: If you'd been
standing there,

You would have been
knee-deep in running water

And it would have
been drinkable,

I mean you could take a cup
and scoop it and drink it.

Narrator: Curiosity drills
into this ancient lake bed,

Finding thick layers of sediment

That took thousands
of years to build up.

Grant: For me, that was a
real aha moment because

Suddenly here I was
staring in the face

Sediments that were very much

Like the sediments that
were being deposited

In the lake where I grew
up in northern new york.

(intense dramatic music)

And I was kind of dragged
kicking and screaming

Into this idea, but by god,

There was an
ancient lake on mars

And it was there for
a good long time.

Narrator: We now think
water flowed on the surface

For up to a billion years

But dissipated about
three billion years ago.

Purdy: The reason that the water

Became less stable
on the surface

Is that the atmosphere
changed and became very thin.

Eventually, it became
very dry and cold.

Narrator: Perseverance
will look at what water

Left behind,
especially in craters.

Grant: Perseverance is landing
in a place called jezero crater,

Where we see because
of an inlet channel

And an outlet channel,

That water once filled
that up and overflowed.

Perseverance is
gonna go and evaluate

Those sediments and those
rocks seeking signs of life.

Narrator: The search begins
with the rover's amazing arm.

Trujillo: So I would say
the robotic arm is

Incredibly important
for the mission,

'cause it has
everything on its hand.

And in fact, as
I'm talking to you

You can see me
moving my arm because

It is so intuitive also.

You're thinking about
an arm just like yours,

An arm where the fingers
are the instruments,

And immediately you can picture
exactly what you will do

If you were a geologist
standing on the surface of mars,

Bring it down, put me
here, let me see it.

Narrator: At
the end of the arm

Is a whole new
suite of instruments

That will look for
traces of past life.

Trujillo: The robotic arm
also has a drill in it

Which is the actual unit
that will collect the sample.

Narrator: A drill
on a rover is old news.

But the fate of the
sample could be big news.

Grant: Perseverance is going to
collect and cache samples

For possible return to earth
at sometime in the future.

Narrator: This rover
will begin the most

Ambitious robotic space
handoff ever attempted.

Grant: Perseverance will drill
down and collect samples

And put them in an area

Where a second rover
can come in the future

And pick them up.

(intense dramatic music)

They'll be put inside
a small rocket.

They'll be launched up into
orbit where they'll be captured

And eventually returned to
earth at sometime in the future.

(intense dramatic music)

Narrator: If perseverance
finds evidence of life,

We'll need the sample
on earth to confirm it.

Within a decade, we could be
holding the first evidence

Of alien life in our hands.

Grant: The kind of holy
grail is sample return

And perseverance is the
first step along that path.

Narrator: Packed
inside perseverance

Is another space first.

(whirling)

It looks like a spider
learning to fly.

(whirling)

But it's the first
interplanetary helicopter.

(dramatic music)

Schulte: Ingenuity, which
is the helicopter

That we're sending to ride
along with perseverance rover,

Is designed as a
technology demonstration

To, for the very first time,

Show that we can operate a
powered flight aerial vehicle

On the surface of mars.

Narrator: Nasa
creates a chamber

Simulating the
atmosphere of mars,

Where liftoff will be 100
times harder than on earth.

Schulte: With the
atmosphere so thin,

There is very little material

For the blades to push against.

So it's very light and
the blades are very large

In order to get enough lift

To be able to lift
off the ground.

Narrator: The copter
passes the test on earth.

On mars, it will
have to fly solo,

Because radio signals take
an average of 15 minutes

To travel between
earth and mars.

Grant: It has to be done
completely remotely.

You have to be doing it

Without any real sort of
real time joystick control

Of where this thing is gonna go.

Narrator: If it works,
ingenuity could scout ahead

For perseverance,

Take detailed photos

And transmit them
back to the rover

For a sneak peak of
where it might go.

All while flying into
the history books

As the first powered
flight of an aircraft

On another planet.

But it has to get off
this planet first.

(upbeat music)

The first step to mars
is a cross country trip

From california to florida.

Sixteen semis truck in
pieces of the capsule

That will carry
perseverance to mars.

Schulte: Those can all
be sent separately

But the rover itself,
fully assembled,

Was sent on a large
airplane to cape kennedy.

Narrator: At the
launch site in florida,

They tuck perseverance
into the capsule,

Cradle it into the top stage
of the rocket and worry.

Grant: You're in a situation

Where you've got years
and years of work

Wrapped up, folded,
origami style almost,

On the top of a giant bomb.

(upbeat music)

And this thing goes bang and
flies off into the distance

And it does so in a real hurry.

And so there's a
lot of personal fear

That what happens if
something goes wrong.

Narrator: Launch day awaits.

(upbeat music)

Just as the new mars rover

Prepares to launch
off the earth,

Earth suffers a
devastating blow.

Purdy: The rover is perfectly
named as perseverance because

Getting this rover
to the launch pad

Occurred during a
global pandemic.

(dramatic music)

It's hard enough to get
a rover built on time

And with no mistakes in it

And you layer on
a global pandemic.

That's an extreme amount
of stress and pressure.

(dramatic music )

Narrator: If something
delays the launch,

Mars won't line up this
closely to the earth

For another two years.

Schulte: We're gonna get
one shot at this.

(upbeat music)

Narrator: Perseverance will
ride on an atlas five rocket.

The boosters come from alabama.

The payload adapter
comes from texas

And the physics come
from experience.

(dramatic music)

It's not easy to hit a moving
target at a cosmic distance.

Grant: The navigation people
are trying to do this

Hundred-million-
mile hole-in-one.

The spacecraft is
actually put to a place

Where mars is going to be.

So think about a quarterback
throwing a long bomb downfield,

Even though the receiver
is still 20, 30 yards away

From where he's going
to catch the ball

And knowing that the two
are going to come together

At that last second at
just the right time.

(dramatic music)

Man: What a beautiful morning
here on the space coast.

Welcome everyone, behind
us, the star of the show.

Narrator: After
years of work,

The moments before
launch are like a vacuum.

Man: Currently working
no issues on the range

Or on the launch vehicle. It
appears to be ready to proceed.

Zilbelman: They have a
lot of their lives

Invested in these things.

It's as if your child
is leaving home.

That is literally
what is happening.

It's just in this case,
the child is a robot

That is going to another planet.

Man: Go atlas.

Man 1: Go centaur.

Both: Go mars 2020.

Man: 2-1-0 and liftoff.

Narrator: Powered by four
boosters, it leaps off the pad.

Man: The
perseverance of humanity

Launching the next generation
of robotic explorers

To the red planet.

Narrator: Barely
30 seconds in,

It breaks the sound barrier.

Man: And mach 1, atlas
five is now supersonic.

Narrator: 90 miles up,

The solid rocket
boosters peel off.

Man: And we have
good indication

Of srb jettison
of all four srbs.

Narrator: Just four
and a half minutes in,

The rocket drops back.

Man: And we have
good indication

Of atlas-centaur separation.

Narrator:
Perseverance puts earth

In the rear-view mirror.

Purdy: To have watched this
rover launch to mars

Was an incredible feat.

Man: Successful
separation of mars 2020

With the perseverance
rover. There we go.

Man 1: Awesome.

Narrator: Now it
enters the cruise phase

Six months of silent sailing,

That will end with a terrifying
7-minute leap of faith.

(dramatic music)

Grant: When the spacecraft
gets to mars,

It's literally going
thousands of miles an hour.

And so we've got to go from
thousands of miles an hour

To zero and not do a
bug on a windshield.

(dramatic music)

Narrator: The
heavier the spacecraft,

The harder it is
to slow it down.

Viking was light enough
to land with a parachute

And some retro rockets.

The heavier spirit
and opportunity rovers

Needed giant balloons
to cushion their impact.

Now, 1-ton perseverance will
take a far trickier path.

Schulte: As the
spacecraft encounters

The upper part of the
atmosphere, it will heat up.

Once it slows down enough,

Then the heat shield
will come off.

Once we've slowed down
enough on the parachute,

Then the rover will separate
from the back shell,

That's when the engines
on the descent stage

Will actually ignite

And slow us down to eventually
hovering over the surface.

The rover itself
will actually be

Gently lowered,
spooled on cables.

Once the wheels
touch the ground,

The cables are cut and the
descent stage flies away

And then we have a rover
on the surface of mars.

Narrator: If it lands safely,

Perseverance could
provide the first evidence

That mars supported life.

But it will also ask,
"could mars support us?'

Purdy: It can be minus 200
degrees fahrenheit.

It can be windy.
It can be dusty.

So it's a pretty
tough place to exist.

Narrator: One experiment
on perseverance called moxie

Could set the stage
for future astronauts.

Schulte: The moxie instrument is
going to take carbon dioxide

Out of mars's atmosphere,

Strip out oxygen from those
carbon dioxide molecules.

So the instrument will
be generating oxygen

With the materials
already present on mars.

Narrator: Maybe future
astronauts could breathe oxygen

Mined from the atmosphere.

Maybe they could draw water
from the ice underground

And grow food inside
their mars base.

(upbeat music)

Perseverance is blazing
the trail for it all.

Zilbelman: I think all of us
hope eventually

Humans will get there.

That's just the latest evolution

Of doing things
on other planets.

Grant: Humans could be off
doing scientific discovery

And robots could be
left to do some of the

Mundane housekeeping,
the creating of the

Resources needed to survive.

Schulte: Robots are great.
But again, I think

They can only tell you so much.

Personally, I
think we should go.

Narrator: A family
photo of mars rovers

Reveals generations of explorers

With perseverance
at the cutting edge.

(upbeat music)

One day, humans might
launch in their wake

And an astronaut could
make the first footprint

But she might look out

And see what made her
footprint possible.

Miles and miles of rover tracks.