The spectacular sights of the cosmos; orbiting Saturn; searching for water and life on Mars; witnessing an armada of space telescopes uncovering the secrets of the cosmos; embarking on voyages of discovery; enjoying a view that is out of this world.
EPISODE 1
Probing the Cosmos from Space
Surveying NASA's space exploration strategy; although human spaceflight gets the lion's share of publicity, the greatest scientific discoveries in space are the work of planetary probes and space observatories; why this approach pays off.
EPISODE 2
The Magnetic Beauty of the Active Sun
Exploring the sun in great detail through the multispectral instruments of the Solar Dynamics Observatory; seeing debris from magnetic storms explode into space and then crash back into the sun; learning how these outbursts affect Earth.
EPISODE 3
Mars - Water and the Search for Life
Discovering that Mars is a water world whose surface dries up and may once support life; four robotic rovers land on Mars, including the Curiosity rover, which is crawling across the planet searching for clues connected to microbial life forms.
EPISODE 4
Vesta and the Asteroid Belt
Studying fossil remains of the early solar system, preserved in the rocky debris of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter; focusing on Vesta, one of the largest asteroids; viewing it close up; how pieces of Vesta fall to Earth as meteorites.
EPISODE 5
Saturn - The Rings of Enchantment
Examining Saturn through the eyes of the Cassini probe, which orbits the ringed planet since 2004; it takes pictures of Saturn's cloud tops, moons and the enigmatic ring system; examining competing theories for the origin of this circular band.
EPISODE 6
The Ice Moons Europa and Enceladus
Focusing on the two enigmatic ice worlds of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus; both may harbor liquid water beneath their icy crusts; weighing the chances that life exists in these underground oceans, despite the extreme cold.
David M. Meyer
