The remarkable and audacious people of JPL have been on the cutting edge of interplanetary exploration for over 40 years. From the fractured, steaming craters of Mercury, tortured by the sun close overhead; to the frozen icefalls of tiny Pluto, the sun a distant speck in a lonely sky, the machines of JPL have an unparalleled record in charting the unknown. Robotic emissaries, these remarkable craft have spent years cruising the unknown to bring pictures and huge streams of data to the Earthbound, leaving us amazed and enlightened, and a bit humbled, in their wake. These machines cover an incredible range, from the early Lunar probes, little smarter than a toaster, through the Pioneer probes to Jupiter, now silently cruising interstellar space, to the modern marvel of Galileo, currently navigating the torturous magnetic fields of Jupiter while charting its myriad moons.
But JPL is not just about spaceflight... there are spin-offs into our everyday lives. The Mars Pathfinder rover has resulted in a new design for the US army, a robot warrior of tomorrow. The artificial intelligence of the advanced Cassini probe to Saturn has blazed a path for previously inconceivable smart technologies that will soon permeate our everyday lives.
And behind the machines are the amazing people of JPL... the scientists, technicians, and engineers are all exceptional; many continue their space researches after hours on their own. We will meet these unusual and brilliant people as they narrate the history of space exploration and illuminate the mysterious worlds beyond Earth. There is Rob Staehle, the young scientist who developed the only probe to Pluto ever to gain NASA’s blessings, and all in his spare time at home. Then there is Donna Shirley, the recently retired chief of the Mars Pathfinder program who became a media darling. They range from suave and nattily attired to the classic caricature of the mad scientist, but they share a common passion: to share the most astounding and memorable moments of space exploration with us. Join us as we journey to the stars with the “Emissaries from Earth.”
PRODUCTION:
The shows will draw upon our archives of JPL and NASA photos and animations from the sun to Mars to Jupiter and beyond, but we will not stop there. We have sourced out computer simulations from universities around the world and will draw on the best they have to offer. Finally, under the supervision of the producers who have worked extensively in the visual effects field, we will draw upon our exclusive engagement with the effects staff of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” to create the incredible and the unimaginable. We will not simply look at Venus, Jupiter and the Andromeda galaxy; we will GO THERE. We will see Mariner 7 skirting past the blasted terminator of Mercury, and we will witness the air on Pluto freezing at nightfall and crashing to the icy ground in a devastating fusillade. Join us for a truly unforgettable journey through the solar system and beyond.
EPISODES:
THE ROCKET MEN: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory did not start as a huge, sprawling high-tech facility in the hills above Pasadena, California... nor did it begin life as a university or a secret military installation. It began as an idea in the minds of a few rebellious individuals who shot off hastily assembled rockets in the dry lake beds North of LA county in the late 1940’s, in a world weary of war but convinced that technology held the promise of tomorrow. Building on the work of Robert Goddard and Wherner von Braun, these unusual men took their US army mandate seriously and to heart: create a cadre of talented individuals to probe the outer reaches of propulsion science and, eventually, outer space. In less than ten years they were poised to do just that... and in less than 50, the entire solar system would be their own backyard.
FIRST IN SPACE: Before we knew anything about the moon, much less Jupiter or other galaxies, there was the dream. This dream of space exploration was enabled by the dawn of the Rocket Age. As the US and USSR were battling to get a man into space, a quieter war was being fought for the knowledge of other worlds. The untried but cutting-edge Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the American entrant into the gladiator’s arena, and waged a hard-fought campaign against their Soviet counterpart to be the first to the stars. From the earliest blurry images of the far side of the moon to a landing on the parched surface of Venus, we will witness the extremes to which the men and women of JPL would go to be First in Space.
THE SCORCHED PLATEAU: The story of the exploration of the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, is one of multiple failures, near misses, and finally triumph for both the US and the Soviets. In America were Dr. Bruce Murray and UCLA grad student Michael Minovich, who took the audacious stance of suggesting that we yank two Mariner-class probes off the shelf- where they awaited their mission to the Red Planet- and fly them off to Mercury. That year a unique opportunity existed to fly to Venus and, because of a unique alignment, coast on unpowered to the innermost planet Mercury. The objections were many- and the allies few. But through persistent efforts, unceasing cajoling, and the cultivation of just a little paranoia that the Russians would arrive first, the people of JPL were able to send one lonely Mars ship, heavily shielded against the terrifying heat of the sun, on a long and triumphal voyage to the scorched and desolate Mercury. From this victory we will witness the Soviet response, the brute-force landing of a heavily armored spacecraft on the acid-washed, crushing surface of Venus. Through the intense and patriotic efforts of the best scientists the Soviets could muster, the intrepid battleship of a probe lasted only a few moments on the blazing, hostile surface... but they were moments that would change scientific history, and propel the Soviet Union back to the forefront of space science.
THE GREAT GALACTIC GHOUL: What happens to spacecraft that vanish off the radar? That spin out of control after leaving earth orbit? Nothing put the grip of fear on a space scientist’s heart as much as the launch of an interplanetary probe into the unknown, for many of the early missions exploded, malfunctioned or simply vanished into thin air. In episode 3 we will look at the “missions that were not,” such as the early Mariner to Mars and Soviet Mars missions that were lost-in-space so often that Mariner project leader John Casani invented “The Great Galactic Ghoul” to explain who was grabbing and destroying the spacecraft. We will join the Viking lander in its lonely vigil on the surface of Mars, still living on its nuclear power supply 25 years after its spectacular mission on Mars, but now, through an error in programming, staring silently at its feet awaiting a command from JPL that will never arrive. We will visit the distant boundary between the orbits of Earth and Mars, where more spacecraft have vanished than any other place in space. Finally, we will look at the future and the many risky but exciting probes that are planned to the edge of the solar system and beyond, and the many risks that await them.
THE STARSHIPS: The age of interstellar travel has arrived. It began about ten years ago, when the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, veteran of the first mission to Jupiter in the 1970’s, crossed the edge of the solar system and entered interstellar space. This tiny craft, no smarter than a desktop calculator, operates to this day off its plutonium batteries and until budget cuts forced the end of the program was transmitting daily “space weather” reports to the earth. It is now on a slow trajectory to a star system many light-years distant. Famed sci-fi author and futurist Dr. Robert Forward will join our JPL personalities to discuss the ramifications of humanity’s entry into deep space and the message Pioneer caries buried deep inside its fuselage. Finally, we will examine other entrants into the interstellar contest, such as the exciting NASA Deep Space One probe, scheduled to launch later this year.
IN MANS IMAGE: The exploration of space is performed largely by robots. These are not Metal Men as envisioned by pulp authors of the 1930’s, but they are mechanical envoys just the same. We will meet the designers and makers of these high-tech wonders and come to understand their intense feeling of kinship to their mechanical “children,” who will so soon be roving some distant world. From the Mars Rover to the Russian Lunar buggy, from the Viking lander automated life science labs to the high-speed impact-driven comet penetrators of the future, we will see the gamut of robot science in space. And the earthbound spinoffs will be there too, from smarter automobiles to the US army’s new JPL-designed robotic warriors. Don’t miss this special look at the men and their machines who redefine how we look at technology and ourselves.
SPLENDOR IN THE SKIES; ARMAGEDDON ON EARTH... COMETS AND ASTEROIDS: In 1908 there was a huge explosion in Siberian Russia. In many respects it resembled a nuclear blast, and continues to stymie al efforts at identification. The most commonly held theory is that a small comet slammed into the Earth and obliterated a couple hundred square miles. That it missed a major city is just dumb luck. More recently, in 1989, a car-sized object entered the atmosphere over Montana and blazed so brilliantly for a few minutes that people on the ground in Bozeman had two shadows. There are many more near-missed every year. Here on Earth, the people of JPL are among the few who are charged with the mission of watching the skies for these cosmic battering rams. We will meet Elenor Helin, who has maintained a lonely vigil for the last 20 years as she locates, identifies and charts the movements of new asteroids at Mount Palomar. We will talk to the producers of the recent Hollywood extravaganzas “Armageddon” and “High Impact,” and we will visit with their advisors (also from JPL) and come to understand the real threats facing our planet.. and our species.
FIRE AND ICE: The last 20 years has been a watershed in the annals of exploration. We have moved beyond the comfort of our nearby rocky worlds, Venus, Mars and the Earth, and journeyed to the great outer planets. The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, with their many dozens of moons, violent magnetic fields and bizarre chemistry, have been charted with great accuracy. The distant blue twins of Neptune and Uranus have been overflown, until only tiny Pluto remains unexplored. We know these worlds better than mariners knew the Antarctic at the turn of the century. The people and machines that explored and continue to explore these distant worlds are as unusual and surprising as you might expect, and we will join them as they remember their past triumphs and as they continue to explore the realm of Jupiter and soon, the domain of Saturn.
POWERS OF TEN: Space is a study in incomprehensible distances. In the beginning man searched the skies with his naked eyes, searching for meaning and comfort. Later came the telescope, and improvements on this technology continue to this day. But it was the invention of the modern rocket and the interplanetary probe that finally allowed us to rise above our turbulent atmosphere and its obscuring effects and se the planets close-up and in all their breathtaking glory. Finally, recent advances like the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope have graced us with views of the ancient universe, at the very edge of time. But despite these amazing advances, many scientists and seekers, young and old, male and female, grizzled and prim, continue to peer through huge, often antique telescopes to probe distant mysteries and learn new secrets. Even high-tech facilities like NASA and JPL lean heavily on these direct and inexpensive observations to plan missions and probe the depths of space. We will visit some of the premiere facilities, some looking at light and others listening to sounds from space, to share the continuing allure of the first-hand view of the cosmos.
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: Not so long ago an invasion from Mars was considered to be a possibility. As late as the 1930’s astronomers like Percival Lowell continued to theorize about the possibility of intelligent life on Mars. Perhaps this is one reason that it is the most visited world after the Earth and it’s moon. Half a dozen probes have landed on its sandy surface, some like the Mars Pathfinder have roved its terrain. The planet has also been blanketed by photographs from orbiting investigators, and more are planed at an record-setting pace. We will meet the men and women responsible for this American success story, from the makers of the fuzzy images of Mariner 4 in 1964 to the latest magicians of the Mars Global Surveyor, currently in orbit around the Red Planet. We will plumb the many mysteries of Mars too. Why are there huge floodplains on a planet that is as dry as a bone? Where did all the water go? What kind of life might exist there? Why is the surface so red? How does a relatively small planet host the largest canyons and volcanoes in the entire solar system? These and other questions will be investigated by our team of talented scientists, authors, artists and others in this special all-Mars show.
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