1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,240 EXPLOSIVE BLAST 2 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,160 Ignition. 3 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,040 Mars, the Red Planet. 4 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,800 We've long wondered if it's harboured life. 5 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,240 Some have dreamt of walking on its surface. 6 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,800 More than four decades after they landed on the Moon, 7 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,840 NASA are now imagining a two-year ride across space... 8 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:53,240 ..to Mars. 9 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,960 The scorecard of Mars is at best 50/50. 10 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,600 It's tough to get there. 11 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,560 If you think about putting humans in harm's way, it's a tough job. 12 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,760 To do it, they need new rockets on a new scale... 13 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,000 ..a new way of surviving in space... 14 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,560 ..and a new breed of astronauts... 15 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,320 Think about a mission to Mars. What is it? Is it outdoor stuff, 16 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:32,640 or is it confinement? 17 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,600 And then I see somebody that says, "I have a stamp collection, 18 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,600 "I do a lot of reading, I enjoy watching movies." 19 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,600 And I'm thinking, "That might be good for confinement." 20 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:46,360 To finally go to Mars would be the fulfilment 21 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,240 of one of our grandest dreams. 22 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,640 I long for a time when I can actually walk out of my back yard, 23 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,360 stare at space, spot Mars, and actually think, 24 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,520 "There are humans on Mars, right now, and we helped put them there." 25 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,280 But is this ultimately a dream NASA can really deliver? 26 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,360 Right now on Mars, there is an object the size of a car, 27 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,000 roaming about on the surface. 28 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,800 It was sent across vast voids of space 29 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,320 to this harsh and rocky planet. 30 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:03,760 And now, every day, it opens its eyes upon on another world, 31 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,000 trawls the surface for signs of life 32 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,560 and sends back images like these... 33 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,680 Now NASA want to go a stage further 34 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,640 and put a group of people up here with it. 35 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,600 And so the man who masterminded the landing of this rover 36 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,640 is now part of a team trying to work out 37 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,720 if humans can safely be sent to join it on Mars. 38 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,360 Mars is a tough place to get to. 39 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:48,120 It's a scary, expensive and risky proposition for robots. 40 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,760 When you think about pitting a human in harm's way, 41 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,120 you've got to double down on your engineering 42 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,160 to make sure that everything goes right. 43 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:01,240 The simple truth is that much of the technology they'll need doesn't yet exist. 44 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,920 People get, I think, confused by the technologies on Star Trek. 45 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,320 And perhaps in 400 or 500 years from now, 46 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,480 we'll have those kinds of technologies available. 47 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,240 But for the present time, if we want to do space exploration, 48 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:15,360 there are risks. 49 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,920 And the longer the mission, and the farther away we go, 50 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,360 then the higher the risks are going to be. 51 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,600 The history of previous, unmanned, missions provides little comfort. 52 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,480 So Mars is a risky place to go. 53 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,120 Early attempts - Mariner 3 and Mariner 8, 54 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,360 almost everything the Soviets tried to put there, 55 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:39,640 the Mars Polar Lander in '99 - all these missions have failed. 56 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:43,520 The scorecard of Mars is at best 50/50. 57 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,360 So as NASA set their sights on a manned mission to Mars, 58 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:49,800 can they pull it off? 59 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,600 The scientists and engineers at NASA are returning 60 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,760 to the business they're famous for - 61 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:22,120 transforming a fantastical idea into a precise set of engineering plans. 62 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,320 These are the people who must face, and overcome, 63 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,480 every problem involved in sending human beings 64 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,120 56 million kilometres from Earth. 65 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,880 Everything from stopping them from going mad with boredom, 66 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,080 to dealing with years of human waste. 67 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,440 It's quite a challenge. 68 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:02,680 And the team must begin at the beginning, by escaping planet Earth. 69 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,640 If anyone should ever ask you to build a spaceship to go to Mars, 70 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,840 then, like any craftsman, 71 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:28,120 you first have to find a space to work in. 72 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,800 This vast hangar, once home to key parts of the Apollo rockets 73 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,160 and Space Shuttle, is where a rocket that'll one day 74 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,800 go to Mars will take shape. 75 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,400 Ricardo Navarro is clearing the decks 76 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,760 so that assembly of the rocket can begin. 77 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,440 It's so much larger than what we did here before. So much taller. 78 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,920 The best way to assemble something this complex and this big 79 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:10,560 is to assemble it vertically. 80 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,280 You generally want to build like you fly. 81 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,480 So they start at the bottom, with the fuel tanks. 82 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,840 This is as high as we can go using the elevator. The rest is on foot. 83 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,440 It's hard to tell with this big of a space 84 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,880 how big the actual vehicle's going to be, the rocket. 85 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,000 But you can actually already see some signs emerging. 86 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,720 You can see that blue circle forming. 87 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,360 That is the actual diameter of the rocket. 88 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,560 So you can imagine something of that diameter, all the way up 89 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,760 to about ten feet below where we are right now, 90 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,400 being the actual size of the hydrogen tank. 91 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,960 Even at this height, we cannot contain the entire rocket. 92 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,520 The rocket is called the Space Launch System, or SLS. 93 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,520 And this building can only accommodate half of it. 94 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,360 So far, very little of the SLS exists beyond the drawing boards, 95 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,920 save for one part that's already under construction. 96 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,840 Here, in New Orleans, they're building the first section 97 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,080 of this monster rocket - the fuel tanks. 98 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,800 Lead engineer Todd May has come to see the first completed section. 99 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,480 And this is what it's like to be inside a rocket. 100 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,000 To keep it light, it's made out of aluminium, 101 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,640 using a design inspired by nature. 102 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,840 This is an iso-grid pattern. It looks a little like honeycombs. 103 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,120 You know, bees are pretty smart. 104 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,600 We make this this way to actually keep most of the strength 105 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:42,880 of the material while being able to remove 90% of the weight. 106 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,000 Keeping the weight down is imperative, 107 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,800 because this seven-metre-high slab is just one of many 108 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,760 which will make up the overall rocket. 109 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,240 Now, to make a core of a rocket, 110 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,360 you actually have to have the equivalent of ten of these tall. 111 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,560 You have a hydrogen tank, which is the equivalent of five of these, 112 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:06,040 plus a dome on either end. And then the liquid oxygen tank, 113 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,360 which is two of these with a dome on either end. 114 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,120 The core, when you're finished, is two thirds of a football field long. 115 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,360 By the time you add the interim upper stage, 116 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,440 it's taller than the Statue of Liberty. 117 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,480 This giant piece of metal will be useful for just moments. 118 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,120 So, to give you a sense of what's going on through launch, 119 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,000 this section, which is filled with rocket fuel, 120 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,640 is pouring it out through the engines very quickly. 121 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,680 Just one section like this would empty in about a minute. 122 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,520 This is the only piece of the rocket that exists right now. 123 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,240 But before it can be tested in 2017, 124 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,120 millions of other parts will be made to join it. 125 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:57,440 July 1969. The launch of Apollo 11. 126 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,760 The mission - to leave Earth and carry three men 127 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:05,240 in a 30-ton capsule... 128 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,800 ..a distance of 385,000 kilometres... 129 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:30,960 ..and to be the first to step on the surface of a body other than Earth. 130 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,280 It was a phenomenal feat. 131 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,720 And the whole experience took little more than a week. 132 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:45,960 CHEERING 133 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:54,800 But Mars is a very different proposition to the Moon. 134 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,600 Lying 56 million kilometres from Earth, 135 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,880 Mars is over 140 times farther away. 136 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,480 With current technology, a return journey 137 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,800 would take around three years, 138 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,840 and require a team of four to eight astronauts. 139 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,480 Anyone who thinks this is Apollo with bigger rockets 140 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:16,880 needs to think again. 141 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,160 Because this is a mission that will take man, for the first time, 142 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:28,960 out of Earth's orbit, leaving its protection far behind. 143 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:48,960 Stennis, Mississippi. 144 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,040 This is the place where every single rocket engine 145 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:55,680 that NASA has ever built has been tested... 146 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,120 ..from Saturn V to the Space Shuttle main engine. 147 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,640 Today, Mission Control are setting up for a full-power burn 148 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,480 of one of their latest models. 149 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,040 Gary Benton, who's in charge of rocket testing, 150 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:15,760 has come to oversee the burn. 151 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,720 SIREN BLARES 152 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,000 The one-minute siren. So we're within a minute now. 153 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:28,160 We're getting close. My heart's beating pretty fast right now. 154 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,200 I've got some adrenaline rushing through me. 155 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,840 And there'll be more once it cranks up here in a few minutes. 156 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:44,040 We're off! 157 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:07,880 An engine like this will be just one of six 158 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,240 which will help propel the SLS into orbit. 159 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,120 Looks like a safe shutdown. 160 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,880 So when the time comes to test the much bigger SLS rocket, 161 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,840 it must be at the largest stand they have. 162 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,920 Like so much in the mission to Mars, 163 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,600 they'll be standing on the shoulders of NASA's previous missions, 164 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,760 borrowing and re-purposing the best from Apollo and the Shuttle. 165 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,520 How's it going, man? It's going good. All right. 166 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:56,920 B Stand was built over 50 years ago 167 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,600 for the testing of the Saturn engines that carried the Apollo missions to space. 168 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,080 You can't walk round there, cos there's so many people. Right. 169 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:11,560 Gary and his team will be reshaping and upgrading this stand 170 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,600 so that it can cope with the next generation of rockets. 171 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,120 This is the same crane that we used to lift those Saturn V four-stages 172 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,200 and we're going to use the very same crane to lift the SLS four-stage 173 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,800 and place it in this facility, anchor it down really good. 174 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,880 Firing off about two million pounds of thrust. 175 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,920 And that's going to be the biggest test we've done out here 176 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,360 since we did the Saturn V. 177 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,000 There's a palpable sense of excitement here 178 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,600 because for the first time in decades, 179 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,360 they're thinking of using these rockets to send PEOPLE 180 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:47,680 beyond Earth's orbit. 181 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,600 For now, this is NASA's best vision of what a rocket 182 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:57,760 bound for Mars would look like. 183 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,720 'Eight, seven, six, five, four...' 184 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,960 But if you're going all the way to Mars, 185 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:06,600 a single rocket of this size is not enough. 186 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:11,480 NASA estimates that they will need at least seven launches 187 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,640 to get all the equipment they need up into space. 188 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,800 The fuel, the food, the Mars Lander - 189 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,360 all will need to be launched into Earth's orbit 190 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,920 and then assembled in space, much as the Space Station has been. 191 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,360 Only then will it be ready to leave Earth's orbit. 192 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,760 But there's an uncomfortable truth about the journey ahead. 193 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,960 Since they can't carry enough fuel for the full distance, 194 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,200 they need to rely on Mars's gravity to pull them in. 195 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:56,160 It's called the slingshot effect and it means that once they're off, 196 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,080 there's no turning back. 197 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,560 Anyone who's willing to leave the safety of Earth behind 198 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,320 needs to be a very particular type of person. 199 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,280 Back in the days of Apollo 11, picking a crew was straightforward. 200 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,840 It was clear who had the right stuff. 201 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,320 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins 202 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,840 were the cream of US supersonic flight. 203 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,800 They were drawn from the elite world of fighter and test pilots. 204 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:45,720 And with that came supreme hand-eye co-ordination and physical daring. 205 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,400 But these may not be the same skills you'd need to go to Mars. 206 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,080 I noticed that a lot of the astronauts were of the old school. 207 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,920 "I hunt, I fish, I ski, 208 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,520 "I climb mountains, I climb trees..." 209 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,160 You know, lots of outdoor stuff. 210 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,440 But think about a mission to Mars. What is it? 211 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,880 Is it outdoor stuff or is it confinement? 212 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,720 And then I see somebody that says, "I have a stamp collection, 213 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,560 "I do a lot of reading, I enjoy watching movies." 214 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,760 And I'm thinking, "That might be good for confinement!" 215 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,240 Dr David Dinges is interested in how you select a crew 216 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,280 and safeguard their psychological welfare in space. 217 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:47,160 And the key issue is really understanding who's going to develop 218 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,720 a problem and when will it develop? Will all the crew develop it? 219 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,360 How do we detect it? How do we prevent it to begin with? 220 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,280 To date, the only answers come from a Russian study - 221 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,920 an Earth-bound simulation of the approximately 520 days 222 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,000 in isolation it would take for a return trip to the Red Planet. 223 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,880 As the Russian study was gearing up, Dr Dinges set himself a challenge. 224 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,760 Could he use his expert knowledge to anticipate 225 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,000 who would fare best in confinement? 226 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,880 In the Mars 520 mission I watched the crew intensively. 227 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,920 I wanted to see them during the maelstrom of media attention 228 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,360 before they went in to the chamber and how they interacted 229 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:33,800 in that environment. 230 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,640 And body posture, where they were looking, what they said. 231 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,680 When they went in, he made his prediction. 232 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,400 And I made notes and I wrote down a variety of things. 233 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,800 I made predictions - and this is true - I sealed it up in an envelope 234 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,280 and put it in the drawer and waited till the mission was over. 235 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,320 In this footage, released by the European Space Agency, 236 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,840 the astronauts look well. 237 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,520 But by the end, deep troubles were brewing. 238 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,680 The bottom line is that out of six people who went, 239 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,560 only two didn't have significant behavioural problems 240 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:10,960 of one kind or another. 241 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,040 A couple of them experienced insomnia. 242 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:21,000 One experienced some depression. Another was more socially isolated. 243 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,800 But the two I predicted would make it just fine made it just fine. 244 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,880 Like the Apollo missions, the Russian study was all-male. 245 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,520 But what if NASA were to shake up this tradition? 246 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,120 I suspect we're going to find there are some areas women have 247 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:39,880 a slight advantage. In some areas men have a slight advantage. 248 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:44,880 Bone loss or radiation. And so I think a mixed crew is likely. 249 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:53,920 The agencies want to show that the astronauts represent humanity, right? 250 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,040 And that's a reasonable thing to do. 251 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:02,280 NASA hope to launch the mission in 2033. 252 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,000 So the astronauts who'll get to go are probably still at school. 253 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,760 If you were among those astronauts on board, 254 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,240 you'd sense the major physical challenge immediately - 255 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:21,640 a lack of gravity. 256 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,440 It's a problem faced every day on the Space Station 257 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:30,880 but, so far, no-one has spent more than 15 months in low gravity. 258 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:36,680 But if you were on your way to Mars, you'd be away for twice that time. 259 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,440 For the scientists the question is, how do you understand 260 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,880 the long-term effects of weightlessness here on Earth? 261 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,320 Good afternoon! Time for lunch. Lunch, already? 262 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:57,080 Yes. Isn't it amazing how time flies? Let's eat! Bon appetit! 263 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,480 Welcome to the weird, horizontal world of Frank and Daniel. 264 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:08,400 They've volunteered to spend 70 days in a row lying down, 265 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,600 as part of an ongoing study on the effects of weightlessness. 266 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,480 That's because the closest thing to zero-g conditions 267 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,840 here on Earth is to lie in bed. 268 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,360 But that's much harder work than it looks. 269 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,880 The second morning waking up from the bed-rest, 270 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,720 you kind of, you know, want to try to normally sit up like you normally do, 271 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,280 but then you bring the lamp down to you to turn on your lights. 272 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,680 You don't go up to the lamp. It's a little difficult. 273 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,520 Yeah, taking a dump here's not too pleasant! 274 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,080 But, you know, what can you do? You've got to do it. 275 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:42,200 It's not too bad, you know. 276 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,600 I guess I can finally say I know how to use one of our bedpans! 277 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:47,880 HE LAUGHS 278 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,000 You should try it. It's a good experience! 279 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,440 HE LAUGHS 280 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,800 Hey, Frank, how is it going? It's been pretty good, you know. 281 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,720 You're on bed-rest day 28! That's correct. 282 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,480 Yeah, so how was it when you first went head down? 283 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:09,960 Dr Roni Cromwell is running the trial, 284 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,800 which overall has 27 subjects. 285 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,680 So we get people from all walks of life. 286 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,880 We've had people who are between jobs, 287 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,480 that are looking for something to do. 288 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,760 We've had people that wish they had been able to be an astronaut 289 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,640 and since that couldn't happen, they wanted to do the next best thing. 290 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,880 Roni ensures that all the subjects are kept with their heads tilted 291 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,760 six degrees down, which best emulates the effects of space. 292 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,800 And by tipping them six degrees head down tilt, 293 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,440 we see the headward fluid shifts, 294 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,920 that is similar to what astronauts experience in space as well. 295 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,800 And by doing that we can then study the mechanisms for these changes 296 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,440 as well as develop countermeasures to mitigate these changes. 297 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,920 A typical day starts with breakfast in bed... 298 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,440 ..and a shower...in bed. 299 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,640 After lunch, tests...in bed. 300 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:23,240 My favourite part! 301 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,960 Today, they're investigating a mission-critical problem - 302 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,000 why astronauts often lose their appetite in space. 303 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,240 During weightlessness, body fluids flow into the head 304 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,440 and scientists believe this may affect the airflow. 305 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,400 So they're measuring the size of Frank's nasal cavity, 306 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,560 to look for swelling which might restrict 307 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,960 his sense of smell and taste. 308 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:52,400 Daniel is slightly luckier. 309 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,360 He's among the 50% of subjects who are selected 310 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:01,240 to occasionally escape bed to study the effects of exercise. 311 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:06,840 It can be a little bewildering... 312 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,640 The reason for optimising the exercise programme 313 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:22,760 is to find the best sort of recipe for the exercise that's needed 314 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,400 to preserve muscle and bone in our astronauts. 315 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,480 Exercise has long been known as a means of staving off 316 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,120 loss of bone and muscle mass in space. 317 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,800 Because the effects of this can be devastating. 318 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:52,840 These astronauts, just landed from the Soyuz capsule in 2013, 319 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,160 are too weak to even stand, let alone walk. 320 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,360 On a mission to Mars, the effects would be even more pronounced. 321 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:03,720 After all, it's a much longer journey. 322 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,040 But there'll be no-one on Mars to carry them away. 323 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,720 The astronauts must be able to step out of the capsule 324 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,200 and onto the Martian surface by themselves. 325 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,920 Scientists are realising that exercise alone, however optimised, 326 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,760 is not enough. 327 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,600 If humans are ever going to be strong enough to explore 328 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,480 the Martian surface, they'll need some other help 329 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,800 to keep them fit for the adventure ahead. 330 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:47,280 You may never even notice it, but millions of years of evolution 331 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:52,760 have finely tuned your body to conditions on planet Earth, 332 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:57,840 so that cells in your muscle and your bone simply can't grow 333 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,320 without the force of gravity acting on them. 334 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,800 So Dr Randall Urban is looking for something that can stimulate 335 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,440 muscle and bone growth, in the absence of gravity. 336 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,200 And he's turned his attention to a chemical 337 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,640 that's well known for building your body. 338 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,320 Well, testosterone is a very interesting hormone 339 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:35,320 and it seems to be primarily responsible for protection of bone 340 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,040 and protection of muscle. 341 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,760 Dr Urban is working with the bed-rest study. 342 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,440 He's giving regular injections of testosterone 343 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,600 to half of the subjects who are exercising. 344 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,680 But it's a double-blind study, 345 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:54,000 so no-one knows who's getting the testosterone and who isn't. 346 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,240 We see that one of the exercise groups is doing much better 347 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,000 than the other exercise group. 348 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,040 In our minds, we think that may be the testosterone group 349 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,760 which is showing that benefit. 350 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,760 Daniel doesn't know whether he's received the testosterone or not. 351 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:13,360 He'll just keep on running 352 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:18,960 and having his bone and muscle mass monitored, until his 70 days are up. 353 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,080 The results of the study will help determine whether astronauts 354 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,160 travelling to Mars will take doses of testosterone 355 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,600 to keep their bones and muscles strong. 356 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,280 But that raises an interesting question. 357 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,640 What if some of those astronauts are women? 358 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,000 When we use testosterone in women we have to be very concerned 359 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,040 about the side effects which actually will cause them 360 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,960 to develop male characteristics. 361 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,840 We would have to be figuring out ways to deliver testosterone 362 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,840 in low enough doses that you wouldn't get 363 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,480 any of those other characteristics in the women. 364 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,400 It remains to be seen whether testosterone can be given to women, 365 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:05,200 not to mention a group of competitive men in a confined space. 366 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,640 But the health risks of travelling to Mars 367 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,920 don't just threaten the body. 368 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:16,480 Perhaps the greatest challenge of all is in the mind. 369 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:29,760 Ignition. 370 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,400 Imagine you're one of the astronauts and you've now been on board 371 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,840 for several months, in the same small place, 372 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,160 with the same few people. 373 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:46,840 You've played all the games on your tablet 374 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,080 and the view out of the window never changes. 375 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,560 You may start to feel a little bored. Perhaps a little glum. 376 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:59,200 And this is important, not just because it's nice to be happy. 377 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,560 Having a functioning team on a spaceship 378 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:04,720 can be a matter of life and death. 379 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,200 If you become depressed in space flight, 380 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,880 if you develop a poor interaction style or you become socially 381 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,680 isolated because something's wrong and your brain can't cope 382 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,320 or your behaviour's off, or you become cognitively impaired, 383 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:20,880 then you pose a risk for yourself 384 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:22,600 and the rest of the crew and the mission. 385 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,640 These problems occurred in the past with Shackleton, with Nansen, 386 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,640 with Amundsen, with all the great expeditions. 387 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,520 They remain fundamental problems. 388 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,040 One solution being tested by Dr Dinges and his team 389 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,080 is to use the spacecraft's on-board cameras 390 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,520 to watch over the astronauts day and night. 391 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,920 I want to review, sort of, what we've got. OK, so get position. 392 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:51,040 Centre yourself. 393 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,080 Dr Dinges and his team are using new facial recognition software, 394 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,360 and its success hinges on identifying tell-tale signs 395 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:05,120 in the face, which betray what the mind beyond is really thinking. 396 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,480 Number one, for just tracking purposes, the jaw line really helps. 397 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,680 You, know where the face is oriented. 398 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,600 Number two, we need the lips because the lips tell a lot about frowns, 399 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,240 smiles. And then we need the eyes. 400 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,560 The eyes are hugely expressive in humans. 401 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,920 Chris, give us just neutral here. 402 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,120 And just, you know, think about just work 403 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,600 or whatever you're doing, and nothing particularly important. 404 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,640 Now give me a positive. 405 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,080 OK? A small smile, nothing big. 406 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,320 Just a small joke, there you go. 407 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,560 And now don't be so dramatic with the negative but definitely show me 408 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,000 something negative, like you're annoyed that somebody's... 409 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,520 You don't have to show sadness. Try and give me some anger. 410 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,120 There you go, bingo. 411 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:49,120 It's not just emotion. 412 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,560 Another important state of mind in space 413 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,800 is how much concentration you have. 414 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,440 We discovered that the most reliable measure, better than brainwave, 415 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,280 was speed of the eyelid closure, 416 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,000 the levator palpebrae muscle in the eyelid. 417 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,600 And that's what these little green boxes are tracking, 418 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:09,440 and as we get more tired, no matter what we're doing, 419 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,040 the speed of the eyelid blink slows. 420 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:17,360 Now, it's only slowing in 100, 200, 300 thousandths of a second 421 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:21,840 so it's almost not visible to a human, but in this case 422 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,760 the computer can measure it with a great deal of precision. 423 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,280 And that means you're highly likely to have a lapse of attention, 424 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,240 to have either a microsleep or fail to respond 425 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,760 in a timely manner to something you're monitoring. 426 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,600 And that's why this is so valuable, because now we know your emotion, 427 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,520 and we know if you're tired or fatigued from inadequate sleep, 428 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,760 sleep loss, circadian desynchrony on the spacecraft. 429 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,240 But is it overkill to design a machine to do a job 430 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,440 so instinctive for humans? 431 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,520 You could argue, "Well, can't a human just do it, then?" 432 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:55,720 Are you serious? 433 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:58,800 Is a human going to actually look at, you know, every 30 seconds 434 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:04,240 or a minute, a face constantly for a 17-month mission? It's not realistic. 435 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:07,520 Better to have a machine do it, with an algorithm, 436 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,160 then it feeds it back in aggregate. Then a human can say, 437 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,360 "Give me that section of the mission right here, 438 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,800 "and give me this astronaut," 439 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,240 "and what's going on here? Cos we saw a big spike here". 440 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,760 But what this research cannot answer is the question that might 441 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,400 keep a would-be Mars astronaut awake at night. 442 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:30,360 What if you or one of your crew members DID break down? 443 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:31,720 How would you deal with it? 444 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,360 You can't step outside to calm down. 445 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,280 It's a frightening thought. 446 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,640 One we've never faced before. 447 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:51,200 Thankfully, life in space is not all rumination and introspection. 448 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,640 There are everyday, practical issues to attend to. 449 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:59,400 How do you keep yourself clean? Tidy? Healthy? 450 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,760 How do you cope with the barest necessities? 451 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,080 Here we are at the throne! 452 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,120 Number two, right here. 453 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:13,520 I'll show you. 454 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,600 But you see, it's pretty small so you have to have pretty good aim. 455 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,400 And this guy right here... is for number one. 456 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,360 People always ask about toilet paper. 457 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,360 "What do you do with toilet paper? What kind of toilet paper do you have?" 458 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,600 We have gloves, just because sometimes it does get messy. 459 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,880 We have some Russian wipes, which are a little bit coarse 460 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:35,760 if you like the coarse type of toilet paper. 461 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,160 We have Huggies, erm, just for any clean-ups. 462 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,040 You know, we were all babies once and this sort of helps. 463 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,640 And, of course, you do have your privacy. There's a little door. 464 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,920 But once you've closed that door and flushed the handle, 465 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,600 what happens next? 466 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:59,680 How do you deal with years of waste, with no plumbing and no sewers? 467 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,960 Here in Tucson, Arizona, Taber McCallum, 468 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,400 a specialist in space life-support systems, 469 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,600 is dealing with the nitty-gritty of this question. 470 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,600 And in space, he believes what comes out 471 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,160 must be inextricably linked to what goes in. 472 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,200 So one of the most important things we need to stay alive 473 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,240 is drinking water. 474 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:31,720 And people consume about two litres a day of drinking water, 475 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:37,240 so for a 500-day mission, that's a ton of water. Four crew, 476 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,920 that's four tonnes of water you'd have to bring with you, 477 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,920 so we have to drink the same water over and over again. 478 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,160 Taber is into recycling in a big way. 479 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,080 What we have is a sample of today's urine 480 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:04,320 and then we put that urine on one side of a special set of membranes. 481 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,320 Similar to the way plants essentially treat water for us 482 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,040 by transpiring the water through the membrane of the cell, 483 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:15,000 the water then goes in on one side of the membrane, 484 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,400 travels from molecule to molecule, 485 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,280 and at the other side of the membrane, evaporates away. 486 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,360 So it's a process of hydration and dehydration, 487 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,680 and in that process of the membrane we selectively only get water. 488 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,320 He's hoping to reclaim 98% of drinkable water 489 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,320 from the crew's urine. 490 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,640 That's a significant improvement from the 75% 491 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,040 currently recycled on the space station. 492 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,440 But Taber has also set his sights on solid waste. 493 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:53,760 There's two issues with solid waste. 494 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,280 One is there is water in that solid waste that we'd like to extract, 495 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,920 but even if you didn't bother to extract that water out, what 496 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,680 am I going to do with bags of solid human waste for a year and a half? 497 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,800 You've got to stabilize it somehow, that it won't produce 498 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:13,320 lots of gases and smell bad and ferment and who knows! 499 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:14,920 So some people keep suggesting, 500 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,760 "Why don't you just blast this waste into outer space?" 501 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,440 One of the more interesting reasons not to is that we'd end up 502 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,680 at Mars with a cloud of waste around the spaceship. 503 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:29,360 It's not going anywhere. It's already on the trajectory that we're on. 504 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,200 So you really want to keep all that stuff away from the spacecraft 505 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,640 and make good use of this material. 506 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,680 It's good material - we just have to figure out how to use it. 507 00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:43,400 For some reason I can't get any of the lab techs interested in this project! 508 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,400 It may seem trivial, but a mission to Mars will only become 509 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,080 a practical reality if these problems, 510 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,800 that all of us take for granted in our Earthly lives, can be solved. 511 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:03,480 But imagine the recycling of waste was sorted. 512 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,640 And imagine your body and mind could be kept strong. 513 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:09,760 If you were on the way to Mars, 514 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,640 there would still remain one powerful threat to your survival. 515 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:17,200 Radiation. 516 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:26,440 Just how much radiation you, as an astronaut, would be exposed to 517 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,600 was quantified by the recent Curiosity mission. 518 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:33,760 And they found it to be several hundred times more intense 519 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:35,560 than on Earth. 520 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:36,960 And that's a problem. 521 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:44,680 So one important factor of, actually, life on Earth 522 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,960 and how we were able to evolve is that we're protected 523 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,000 from the radiation of galactic cosmic rays 524 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,040 and from the radiation of the sun by the magnetic field of the Earth, 525 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,040 which is caused by the iron core of the Earth. 526 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,200 That magnetic field creates a protective shield around 527 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:04,240 our planet called the magnetosphere, which deflects radiation. 528 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,080 The more dangerous solar particles don't get through 529 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:13,240 so that we, mostly, receive only life-giving sunshine. 530 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,920 But out in space, everything is different. 531 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:31,400 Out here, the bubbling surface of the sun occasionally builds 532 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,680 to a huge explosion. 533 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:39,160 These solar flares throw out massive bursts of radiation 534 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:43,600 and high-energy protons, which might damage your DNA, 535 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,680 causing mutations and cancer later on. 536 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:55,000 Fortunately, there's a way of dealing with this - shielding. 537 00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:00,920 Jeff Cerro is investigating the best materials to absorb radiation. 538 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,560 So we're looking at taking a garment and filling it with water, 539 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,040 which you see a first concept of here. 540 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:15,680 This astronaut with a water wall built into his wearable garment. 541 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:20,440 So this is something that you fill for an event and you're not really 542 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,520 charging the system the penalty of carrying all this mass. 543 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,280 You need the water anyways for drinking, for contingency water. 544 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,400 So it gives protection. It may be a different form 545 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,600 but with a lot less mass penalty to it. 546 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,800 Doubling up on function using materials that would be 547 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,560 on board anyway is an idea that Jeff is enthusiastic about. 548 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,640 We're trying to look at protecting astronauts using the logistics 549 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:52,560 which we already have on hand, so there's food, 550 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,520 items that we have in these bags that unfold to form a wall. 551 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,000 If you put a wall against the outside surface, you're trying to place 552 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:05,880 all these items between the astronaut and radiation you've got outside. 553 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,080 So the more items you can put between him and that, 554 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,160 you know, you attenuate the radiation, 555 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,400 the safer he'll be during this 36-hour solar particle event. 556 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:18,160 So, we've tried with food, we're trying to use water 557 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,960 but we're trying to use that you'll have on board the station anyways. 558 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,440 But there's an even bigger problem... 559 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:32,080 Another source of radiation that's even more damaging - 560 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:34,240 galactic cosmic rays. 561 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,040 Galactic cosmic rays are high-energy particles 562 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,480 spewed out from supernovae - exploding stars. 563 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,720 Their effects are pernicious. 564 00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:52,280 By affecting the growth of brain cells, they can induce memory loss 565 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,800 in an astronaut after just six months in space. 566 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,120 But to shield a crew from radiation such as this 567 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,400 is currently impossible, so they have to look for other answers. 568 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:10,000 The best solution is to have people who are less 569 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,560 susceptible to the effects, or get there more quickly, so the lower 570 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:18,240 time in exposure is going to result in a lower risk to the crew members. 571 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:25,600 So the "right stuff" for a Mars astronaut might not just be defined 572 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:29,760 physically and psychologically, but also genetically. 573 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,520 There's a theoretical possibility as well that we could find some 574 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,720 genetic markers of people who are less susceptible to 575 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:41,160 the kinds of damage that occur during radiation. 576 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:44,280 It's too early in any of our research programmes to be able to 577 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:48,080 speculate on that, but it's certainly a theoretical possibility, 578 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:51,800 and it's one that we'll be investigating over the next few years of our programme. 579 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,760 But, for now, the stark reality is there is no obvious solution 580 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:59,080 to the problem of surviving space radiation. 581 00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:03,680 At the moment, this is one of the great unknowns of a mission to Mars. 582 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,120 But assume you've escaped the radiation 583 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,000 and the mission is on track. 584 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:26,840 After being launched in the world's biggest rocket, 585 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:29,880 you've staved off the weakening effects of zero gravity... 586 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,240 ..you've kept yourself sane... 587 00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:37,440 you've managed to recycle everything... 588 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,080 ..and you've survived solar flares. 589 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,240 So now, after travelling for over eight months 590 00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:54,520 and across 56 million kilometres of space, 591 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,320 you're finally arriving 592 00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:58,920 at the planet Mars. 593 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:07,080 Now comes the greatest engineering challenge of the whole mission - 594 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:08,280 landing. 595 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,600 Dr Adam Steltzner has been set the task of working out 596 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:15,920 how it'll be done. 597 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:24,280 He masterminded the audacious landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars in 2013. 598 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:35,320 I have tried to describe that many times and I fall short. 599 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:41,600 And I fall short because it pegged my emotion level, you know, 600 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:44,440 I have a meter... It just buried the needle. 601 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,720 But my career's not over. I'm going try and make something better. 602 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,880 But landing a human crew is a different matter entirely. 603 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:06,000 So landing Curiosity, a ton, 604 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:10,200 biggest thing we've landed on Mars to date, a challenge. 605 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:14,720 But not nearly as much of a challenge as landing humans. 606 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,400 Humans are sensitive, they're delicate, they don't 607 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:23,840 like a lot of Gs, they like to carry water with them, they're heavy. 608 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:28,720 So we think that landing humans might be something like 609 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:32,200 40 metric tonnes, or maybe more. 610 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,640 Once again, with a spacecraft carrying humans, 611 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:40,800 it's the bigger size that raises challenges. 612 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,960 There's this interesting bit of physics that occurs 613 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,520 as you scale up things. 614 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:50,280 Imagine scaling up a drop of water. 615 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:53,720 As it gets small or big, 616 00:45:53,720 --> 00:45:58,800 its weight goes up with the size of it... 617 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,960 ..cubed, raised to the third power. 618 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:08,520 But its aerodynamic drag gets larger 619 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:14,440 based on its area, which is its diameter squared. 620 00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:19,600 What that means is, the bigger this self-similar thing gets, 621 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:21,720 the more easily it falls. 622 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:24,000 Same thing happens with spacecraft. 623 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,560 So if you think about Curiosity, 624 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:31,760 she came in going very, very fast, slowing down, slowing down, 625 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,560 and eventually making contact with the surface. 626 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:39,720 The smaller size of Curiosity meant that it was successfully 627 00:46:39,720 --> 00:46:42,880 slowed by aerodynamic drag as it fell. 628 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:46,480 But scaling up the size for a human lander changes 629 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,000 the physics of landing, radically. 630 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,840 I've got this self-similar shape. 631 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,640 I'm going to not put Curiosity on the surface, 632 00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,280 but I'm going to put two Curiositys. 633 00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,160 OK, three, four, five, getting a little challenging. 634 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:02,560 40. 635 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,000 Now, all of a sudden I can't fly that shape. It's the same shape 636 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:10,080 it was before, it's packed at the same densities of spacecraft, 637 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:13,600 but now it ends up flying a trajectory 638 00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:18,800 that intercepts the surface of Mars when its moving Mach 20. 639 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,160 Not good. 640 00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:25,120 Perhaps to get really big things to the surface of Mars, 641 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:27,560 what we need to do is... 642 00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:34,480 ..we need to make our shape like this, 643 00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:36,720 which regular rockets look like, 644 00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:39,960 but when we come flying in, we don't put the pointy end in 645 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,600 or the back end in, we come in sideways. 646 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:47,960 By coming in sideways, the drag on the spacecraft is increased 647 00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:53,680 significantly, slowing the rocket from hypersonic to supersonic. 648 00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:55,480 To slow it down further, 649 00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:59,840 you need something else to push against the gravity of Mars. 650 00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:03,120 It's called supersonic retro-propulsion. 651 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:06,880 Imagine motorbiking with your mouth open at 60 miles an hour. 652 00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,800 It's, "Whoa!" It fills your mouth with air 653 00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:12,480 and it's actually sometimes hard to breathe out against it. 654 00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:15,120 Well, that is the challenge of supersonic retro-repulsion. 655 00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:18,120 You're going to light a rocket off into the flow, 656 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,360 but it's going to be supersonic flow. 657 00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:22,200 Well, NASA's working on that. 658 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,080 And it's likely to take those rockets from a supersonic condition 659 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:28,120 all the way down to the surface. 660 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,960 It's an inventive and daring idea. 661 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:34,800 But to carry out this manoeuvre calls once more on one 662 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:38,480 of the sticking points that bedevils this entire mission - 663 00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:39,760 fuel. 664 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,280 Retro-rockets will need a lot of it. 665 00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:47,800 And where that fuel comes from is something NASA will have to solve 666 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,320 if they are ever to reach Mars. 667 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,640 To stand on the planet Mars. 668 00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:11,160 What would be the reality of this centuries-old dream? 669 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:17,240 Well, the good news is, not a lot of weather on Mars. 670 00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:20,480 It's very dry, it's windy, it can be dusty. 671 00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:23,360 But the bad news is 672 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:26,560 that when the little weather there does stir the dust, 673 00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,440 it can create scenes like this. 674 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,120 These are real images of a dust storm on Mars, 675 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:36,720 captured by a NASA rover. 676 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:38,840 When these storms do kick up, 677 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:42,880 they can go on for months and envelop the whole planet. 678 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:50,880 It's likely to be a far harsher situation than any astronaut faced 679 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:52,520 on the lunar landings. 680 00:49:56,560 --> 00:49:59,120 Even on the Moon, conditions weren't easy. 681 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:04,760 Lunar soil is clingy and caustic - its particles were small enough 682 00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:08,440 to cause a kind of lunar dust hay fever in the astronauts, 683 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:12,000 and sharp enough to wear though their Kevlar boots. 684 00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:17,400 But no Apollo mission stayed on the Moon for longer than four days, 685 00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:20,000 and they all used their lander as a base. 686 00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:23,880 On Mars, life will be harder. 687 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,560 The dust whipping around in the wind is known to contain carcinogens 688 00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,400 and other damaging chemicals called perchlorates. 689 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:37,920 What's more, Mars astronauts will be expected to stay for a whole year 690 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:41,360 before the planets line up for them to take the shortest journey 691 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:42,560 back to Earth. 692 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:48,760 So for these astronauts to live and work comfortably on the Martian 693 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:52,920 surface, they're going to need a new form of protection. 694 00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:15,080 In charge of developing the next-generation spacesuit 695 00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:16,720 is Dr Amy Ross. 696 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:26,040 So, one of the videos that we watch a lot is the Charlie Duke 697 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:28,040 dropping the hammer on Apollo 16 video. 698 00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:31,080 He's trying to take a core sample, 699 00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:35,560 he's hitting that core with his hammer, and he just loses the hammer. 700 00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:48,200 He has real trouble retrieving the hammer, 701 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:51,800 so he just resorts basically to falling on it. 702 00:51:54,560 --> 00:51:56,880 You can see we've progressed quite a ways, 703 00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:59,400 and so our crew members now and our subjects now 704 00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:03,160 can do all of those functional, realistic tasks that you need to do 705 00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:07,480 in a much more normal fashion that didn't scare spacesuit engineers 706 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:09,520 like Charlie did on Apollo. 707 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:15,360 Remarkably, spacesuits have changed little since the Apollo days, 708 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,880 and those worn on the Space Station are just as bulky. 709 00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:22,080 So Amy is looking to slim down 710 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:24,520 and add flexibility in every way she can. 711 00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:30,440 So we have a side bearing which allows you to rotate your shoulder. 712 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:33,040 And then we have an upper-arm bearing, which you can see here, 713 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:34,920 that lets you rotate your arm. 714 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:40,480 Now, in the waist area, 715 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:44,240 this suit was built so it can allow flexion extension joint, 716 00:52:44,240 --> 00:52:49,160 a waist bearing, and allows them some pretty wide range of motion, 717 00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:51,960 very natural, and you move your waist a lot when you walk 718 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,000 and you don't realise that, so that's a very important joint to have. 719 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:56,840 And then we can watch him squat... 720 00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:06,120 He can get down to his boots. So he can adjust his boots 721 00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:07,840 when the suit's pressurised. 722 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:14,080 Can you touch the ground? 723 00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:27,320 And you can see the joints work as he's doing these functional tasks. 724 00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:33,400 Seemingly small developments like this take NASA ever closer 725 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:35,920 to the prospect of sending humans to Mars. 726 00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:43,960 But from setting up a home on Mars 727 00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:47,400 to knowing how they'll generate enough food and oxygen, 728 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,520 there are many thousands of these steps left to conquer. 729 00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:54,400 And the final unknown is this. 730 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:59,600 Will the Mars astronauts be able to get home? 731 00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:16,640 When the Apollo astronauts returned, it was to a heroes' welcome. 732 00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:34,000 But for the astronauts going to Mars, 733 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,800 there's rather more uncertainty about their homecoming. 734 00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:46,320 And that's because, as yet, no-one's worked out a way to get them home. 735 00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:57,840 For now, this is a problem that NASA is trying to solve. 736 00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:03,640 I would expect that they would come back. 737 00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:06,280 We wouldn't design a mission unless we were pretty certain 738 00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,480 they were going to be able to get back safely. That's one of our objectives. 739 00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:12,720 We want to explore, which means getting there and coming back 740 00:55:12,720 --> 00:55:14,640 and telling us what happened. 741 00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:20,400 We value, in our modern society, life too greatly 742 00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:24,320 to send astronauts on a one-way trip to the surface of Mars, 743 00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:27,840 intentionally, certainly. There are tremendous risks. 744 00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:31,200 The brave men and women who go into the astronaut corp... 745 00:55:32,240 --> 00:55:34,120 ..take on those risks knowingly. 746 00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:37,320 And sometimes astronauts perish. 747 00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:42,160 Part of planning the mission will be about the risks 748 00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:44,200 NASA are willing to accept. 749 00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:47,240 But that's a delicate balance. 750 00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:51,920 Because the more they aim to protect the astronauts, 751 00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:55,800 the higher the cost and the further into the future 752 00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:57,400 the dream will be pushed. 753 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:09,600 A momentum is starting to build around a manned mission to Mars. 754 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:13,680 Not just at NASA, but within other privately owned companies 755 00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:16,920 who may work alongside them or even in competition. 756 00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,280 Here at NASA, the scientists and engineers are doing what 757 00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:24,640 they love doing - starting to grapple with problems which, 758 00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:27,360 at first sight, seem unsolvable. 759 00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:31,760 If we committed ourselves to getting to Mars, 760 00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:34,720 we'd BE on Mars. Certainly within a decade. 761 00:56:34,720 --> 00:56:37,280 I believe that we could get there within a decade. 762 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:41,880 The question is, are we willing to spend the efforts, the resources, 763 00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:44,000 the capital to do that? 764 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:46,160 And I think the answer is, right now, no. 765 00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:48,080 But maybe sometime in the future. 766 00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:51,760 One reality is dawning. 767 00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:54,360 Given the scale of this challenge, 768 00:56:54,360 --> 00:56:57,320 it's one that no country can tackle on its own. 769 00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:05,000 More likely than not, a Mars mission will be a multi-national mission, 770 00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:10,080 so one political person in one country isn't going to drive the whole thing. 771 00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:14,200 It's going to require a lot of cooperation from countries around the globe. 772 00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:16,440 So this becomes a very interesting challenge, 773 00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:19,280 but one that Earthlings will take on 774 00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:21,760 and not just people from one country. 775 00:57:21,760 --> 00:57:26,360 So the greatest challenge of this mission to put Earthlings on Mars 776 00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:29,640 may not be a scientific or engineering one. 777 00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:33,880 Whichever countries or companies join the undertaking, 778 00:57:33,880 --> 00:57:37,640 it will be ambitious, risky and expensive. 779 00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:43,160 But, above all, their challenge is to re-kindle the dream 780 00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:45,040 of manned space travel... 781 00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:47,920 ..beyond our own planet. 782 00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:53,400 What are we doing when we are exploring other worlds, 783 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:56,560 other planets, our solar system, our universe? 784 00:57:56,560 --> 00:58:01,960 We are engaging in one of the most fundamentally human acts. 785 00:58:01,960 --> 00:58:05,800 We are following our curiosity. 786 00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:08,720 We are more curious than any other creature on this planet.