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just because we landed on Mars doesn't

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mean that the challenges are now over in

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fact there are a lot of things that have

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to go just right on that first day well

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I think the biggest challenge we face is

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the surface of Mars nobody knows what

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the surface of this arctic region is

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going to look like at the level that

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we're going to be interacting with it

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right after landing we've got to make

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sure that we get our solar panels

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deployed there's two of them one meat on

13
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each have the lander and they open up

14
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like a Chinese fan that's probably the

15
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most critical thing on that day because

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if we don't have solar rays we don't

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have power we don't have power we don't

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have a mission also critical are

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deploying the camera and the robotic arm

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without the camera there's no way we can

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have a quick understanding of what the

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environment around us looks like and

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without the robotic arm we can't start

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digging for our science samples Phoenix

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is looking for habitats on Mars places

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where life could exist or could have

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existed in the past we know that life

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needs three things to exist it needs an

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energy source like sunlight it needs

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water and it needs organic molecules

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that's molecules that contain carbon

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oxygen hydrogen we believe that if

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they're there they're likely going to be

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beneath the ground and likely to be in

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ice the ice is not at the surface it's

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not this shiny ice skating rink set of

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ice it's going to be a dirty mess of

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soil and ice mixed together kind of like

39
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a Alaskan permafrost we expect to be

40
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able to dig down as deep as about a half

41
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a meter or about a foot and a half

42
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there's going to be a real gradient and

43
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exploration from surface to ice that has

44
00:02:14,820 --> 00:02:11,860
never been done before that ice is going

45
00:02:17,820 --> 00:02:14,830
to be as hard as concrete so getting

46
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down to that ice and getting a sample is

47
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going to take some time

48
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something we don't have a lot of time is

49
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of the essence when we get to Mars we

50
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only have a few months to do all of the

51
00:02:31,770 --> 00:02:29,410
science we wanted to a point will come

52
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in the fall when the Sun will

53
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permanently set and there won't be

54
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enough solar energy hitting the solar

55
00:02:42,780 --> 00:02:40,390
panels to continue to power the lander

56
00:02:47,550 --> 00:02:42,790
we are in fact working against a clock

57
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as winter advances the north polar ice

58
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cap is growing until it gets closer and

59
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closer to our landing site and

60
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eventually our lander will be completely

61
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in tune tonight so we face a lot of

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challenges on the surface of Mars but

63
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the dedication of the team is there and

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it's worth it because the discoveries

65
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are going to be so amazing for a

66
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scientist this is the beginning of our

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chance to really try and understand what

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the truth the scientific truths of the

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Arctic region of Mars are all about

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we've never dug into ice have not had

71
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incidents like this on Mars before that

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00:03:28,340 --> 00:03:26,590
can detect the organics like we like

73
00:03:32,300 --> 00:03:28,350
these instruments can what's more

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thrilling as a nation as a world then

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finding another world that perhaps also

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contains some form of life our mission

77
00:03:42,930 --> 00:03:40,209
is just a stepping stone in that

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ultimate search but it's an exciting

79
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part of the search because we're going

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from finding water to finding a