For all of human history, the Sun, our home star, has measured our days and our seasons while fueling all life on Earth. Yet it remains an enigma. NASA's Parker Probe Plus is on a mission to change that, flying through dangerous radiation to become the closest spaceship to orbit our Sun. It's a journey to the center of our solar system, a mission to gather information about the most critical celestial body in the sky, our star.
The sun gives us warmth and light. It is the fuel of life. Without the energy of the sun almost nothing grows, thrives or lives. But the sun was not put there for our benefit. It is not this big jolly ball of nice smiling down on us, wishing us all a good day. It is not our friend. The sun is a monster. A planet killer. And we don't see that side of the sun down here. But eight astronauts, with over 1,000 days in space between them, can show us how being up there helped them understand the suns bright fury.
Space isn't vast and empty space but a dynamic, cosmic storm. It's a storm that could kill us, but without it we wouldn't be here at all. This is a story about the weird connections, the near misses, the lucky breaks that created this amazing world. For 4.5 billion years our planet has been battered and bruised and punched and pummeled but we're still standing. It's actually the battle that's built us and this is the tale of the tape. 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.
James Cameron journeys to some of the Earth's deepest, most extreme and unknown environments in search of the strange and alien creatures that live there. Joining him is a team of young NASA scientists and marine biologists who consider how these life forms represent life we may one day find in outer space not only on distant planets orbiting distant stars, but also within our own solar system. Aliens of the Deep is the result of expeditions to several hydrothermal vent sites in the Atlantic and the Pacific. These are violent volcanic regions where new planet is literally being born and where the interaction between ocean and molten rock creates plumes of super-heated, chemically-charged water that serve as oases for animals unlike anything ever discovered. Six-foot tall worms with blood-red plumes and no stomach, blind white crabs, and a biomass of shrimp capable of 'seeing' heat all compete to find just the right location in the flow of the super-heated, life-giving water or to fry.
The Apollo equipment has sat abandoned on the lunar surface for over 40 years. Now there is a renewed excitement and drive to return to the moon. This time, not to just plant a flag, but to colonize. How would we accomplish this? And why would we do it? The race is on to colonize the Moon, to uncover its hidden riches and discover if humanity can really survive on another world. The Moon is our gateway to our solar system, it's the stepping stone we have to become a multi-planetary species.
Over billions of years, planet Earth has become home to an amazing interdependent ecosystem, containing a dizzying variety of animals and plants. But how did life here begin? And does it exist anywhere outside of our solar system? We uncover the secrets of our world by tracking the evolution of the cosmos itself, from the Big Bang onwards. Follow scientists responsible for some of the major breakthroughs in understanding the origins of life and witness how their discoveries are fundamentally changing the way we perceive the universe.
It's a journey to the center of our solar system, a mission to gather information about the most critical celestial body in the sky, our star.