One Strange Rock

Astronaut Chris Hadfield reveals the unlikely and unexpectedly interconnected systems that allow life on our planet to breathe.

Ever wonder how our planet got here? It was born in a cosmic storm. The violence could have destroyed us, but instead it made us.

Earth protects itself from the sun. The David and Goliath story of Earths relationship with its greatest threat, our seemingly benign Sun. The Sun is the big violent boss of the Solar System throwing out devastating particles and deadly radiation. Without several shields, one generated by our unique planetary core, another by our atmosphere, and a third by our interconnected weather systems, life on Earth would never have survived.

Our rock is special its alive. Though the building blocks of life are common across the universe, life is rare. So what is it about planet earth that sets it apart? What dynamic forces, what coincidences took a bunch of dead ingredients?and transformed them into something as insanely intricate as Life? And if happened here could it happen elsewhere?

It’s not enough for Earth to be habitable, it also has to be lethal for life to thrive. This is the story of how life evolved hand in hand with death.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield has seen the bullet holes left by asteroids on Earth’s surface. Our planet is vulnerable. Could we ever survive elsewhere?