[dramatic percussion music]
- HEY, AND WELCOME TO "NASA LAUNCHPAD."
I'M YOUR HOST TAYLOR LYONS.
HOW DO EXPLORERS NAVIGATE
WHEN THEY DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY'RE GOING?
SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, PEOPLE HAVE LOOKED TO THE SKY
TO FIND THEIR WAY USING THE SUN DURING THE DAY
AND OTHER STARS AT NIGHT.
THE NORTH STAR HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST HELPFUL,
AND STORIES FROM SAILORS ON THE OPEN SEA
TO THE FREEDOM SEEKERS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN FOR GENERATIONS.
ANCIENTS HAD A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE STARS.
JUST LOOK AT THE STORIES THEY TOLD ABOUT THE STARS
AND HOW THEY SAW PICTURES WHEN THEY LOOKED UP AT THE NIGHT SKY,
PICTURES THEY NAMED LIKE ORION OR CASSIOPAEA,
SCORPIO OR PEGASUS.
TODAY WE CALL THOSE STAR PICTURES CONSTELLATIONS.
BUT FAR-AWAY STARS AND STORIES AREN'T THE MOST ACCURATE FORM
OF GUIDANCE, SO CARTOGRAPHY, OR THE PRACTICE OF MAPMAKING,
BECAME INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.
BUT WHAT DO THEY DO WITH ALL OF THOSE MAPS?
- THE USGS IS THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
OUR JOB IS TO FIGURE OUT WHICH MAPS NEED TO GO TOGETHER
TO ANSWER A CERTAIN QUESTION.
WE USE LAYERS OF INFORMATION TO MAKE GEOLOGIC MAPS
FOR SURVEYING, TOPOGRAPHY,
AND THEN ALSO MINING AND MINERAL RESOURCES.
- AND MAPS ARE STILL REALLY IMPORTANT TODAY.
JUST THINK ABOUT IT.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW PULL UP DIRECTIONS
ON YOUR PHONE OR COMPUTER?
- MAPS COME IN LOTS OF DIFFERENT FLAVORS.
MAPS CAN BE MAPS THAT WE USE ON OUR PHONE THAT SHOW US
HOW TO GET TO LUNCH OR GET HOME OR AVOID TRAFFIC.
- ALSO, ON THE WALL OF YOUR CLASSROOM, I GUARANTEE,
SOMEWHERE IN ONE OF YOUR CLASSROOMS,
THERE'S A POLITICAL MAP THAT SHOWS BOUNDARIES OF COUNTRIES.
THERE ARE ALSO MAPS THAT CAN SHOW ENERGY USAGE,
HOW MUCH COAL IS USED PER PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY,
SO MAPS CAN BE USED TO SHOW ANY KIND OF INFORMATION.
- AND ANOTHER IMPORTANT ELEMENT
IS THE SCALE AT WHICH WE'RE DOING THIS.
SCALE ABSOLUTELY MATTERS.
THE POINT OF A MAP IS TO ESTABLISH SOME KIND OF CONTEXT,
AND CONTEXT MEANS YOU HAVE TO HAVE SCALE.
- THE INFORMATION WE NEEDED TO BUILD OUR MAPS
BEGAN WITH THE FIRST EXPLORERS,
AND JUST LIKE THOSE EARLY EXPLORERS,
NASA IS STILL IN THE BUSINESS OF MAP-MAKING,
BUT THE MAPS WE'RE MAKING TODAY
ARE OF THE PLACES WE'RE EXPLORING
THROUGHOUT OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
- WE'VE KIND OF EXTENDED THAT WITH WHAT WE DO NOW
WITH ASTROGEOLOGY INTO OTHER PLANETS,
SO WE MAKE MAPS OF OTHER PLANETS.
OUR JOB AT THE USGS AND AS GEOLOGIC MAPPERS
THAT ARE FUNDED THROUGH NASA IS TO FIGURE OUT,
WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE DATA SETS TO USE
TO SOLVE CERTAIN PROBLEMS?
- MAPPING IS ALWAYS THE FIRST STEP TO UNDERSTANDING
A PLANET'S SURFACE, AND UNDERSTANDING ITS SURFACE
IS THE BEST WAY WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE INTERIOR.
- THE SPACECRAFT AND ROBOTIC MISSIONS NASA SENDS OUT
INTO THE SOLAR SYSTEM MAKE DETAILED MAPS OF THE MOONS
AND PLANETS THEY VISIT,
AND NASA IS USING CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE THOSE MAPS.
- SO THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF TECHNOLOGIES THAT WE CAN USE
TO MAP THE SURFACES OF EARTH AND OTHER PLANETS.
ONE OF THE MOST REVEALING IN TERMS OF THE INFORMATION
THAT IT CAN CARRY IS TO MAP THE TOPOGRAPHY
OR THE ELEVATION OF A PLANET SURFACE.
A LOT OF GOOD INFORMATION CONTAINED IN JUST HOW TALL
THE MOUNTAINS ARE, WHERE THEY ARE,
HOW DEEP THE VALLEYS ARE, WHERE THEY ARE,
AND THE MOST RELIABLE WAY TO DO THAT IS USING A LASER.
IT IS TRANSMITTED FROM A SPACECRAFT
TO THE PLANET SURFACE,
BOUNCES BACK OFF THE PLANET SURFACE BACK TO THE SPACECRAFT.
WE MEASURE THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT TAKES.
A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME MEANS THAT THERE WAS A TALL MOUNTAIN.
A LONG AMOUNT OF TIME MEANS THAT THERE WAS A DEEP VALLEY.
- GRAIL IS AN AMAZING MISSION, THAT IT WAS ABLE
TO COORDINATE TWO SPACECRAFT CALLED EBB AND FLOW,
AND BY MEASURING THE PRECISE DISTANCES BETWEEN EBB AND FLOW--
AND BY PRECISE, I MEAN THE DISTANCE
BETWEEN THOSE TWO SPACECRAFT COULD BE MEASURED
WITHIN THE THICKNESS OF A HUMAN HAIR--
WE CAN UNDERSTAND THE GRAVITY OF THE MOON.
AND THAT GIVES US INFORMATION ABOUT DEEP INSIDE THE MOON,
THINGS WE COULD NEVER GET ANY OTHER WAY,
THE DENSITY OF THE SURFACE, WHETHER THE INSIDE OF THE MOON
IS MORE LIKE THE EARTH OR LESS LIKE THE EARTH,
WHICH TELLS US ABOUT ITS FORMATION.
WELL, LRO IS A FANTASTIC SPACECRAFT.
IT'S GOT ALL KINDS OF INSTRUMENTS ON IT
THAT ARE GIVING US UNPRECEDENTED IMAGES OF THE MOON,
BUT ALSO COLLECTING TOPOGRAPHIC DATA AND COMPOSITIONAL DATA.
- MESSENGER IS A SPACECRAFT ORBITING MERCURY,
AND IT IS GATHERING LOTS OF DIFFERENT INFORMATION.
THIS IS IMAGING INFORMATION,
SO YOU HAVE ACTUAL PICTURES IN THE VISIBLE RANGE,
AND COLOR PICTURES THAT ARE ACTUALLY SAYING SOMETHING
ABOUT THE COMPOSITION.
- CASSINI IS A SPACECRAFT THAT HAS BEEN SENT
TO ORBIT THE SATURN SYSTEM, SO IT'S DESIGNED TO IMAGE SATURN
AND ITS RINGS AND THE ATMOSPHERE OF SATURN,
BUT ALSO ONE OF SATURN'S MOONS, TITAN.
TITAN IS THE LARGEST MOON IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
DAWN IS A MISSION THAT WAS DESIGNED TO ORBIT
AND COLLECT DATA FOR THE ENTIRE SURFACE
OF TWO OF THE LARGEST ASTEROIDS,
AND IT'S COMPLETED ITS MISSION TO VESTA.
IT'S AN ASTEROID THAT'S ABOUT 250 KILOMETERS ACROSS,
AND BY CAREFULLY IMAGING THE SURFACE,
WE CAN GET INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPOSITION OF THE SURFACE,
AND WE'VE IDENTIFIED MINERALS ON THE SURFACE OF VESTA
THAT ARE SIMILAR TO MINERALS
WE HAVE ON EARTH, WHICH IS FANTASTIC.
- THE MORE DATA WE HAVE ABOUT THESE OBJECTS IN SPACE,
THE MORE WE CAN LEARN ABOUT HOW THEY WERE FORMED
AND HOW THEY ARE CHANGING, SO JUST LIKE OUR ANCESTORS,
WE STILL LOOK TO THE SKY FOR ANSWERS.
WELL, THAT'S IT FOR THIS EPISODE.
THANKS FOR WATCHING.
I'M TAYLOR LYONS.
SEE YOU NEXT TIME ON "NASA LAUNCHPAD."
[dramatic percussion music]