Meteors are a deadly threat for our planet, but new technology may provide a way for Earth to fight back when they attack. Join experts as they uncover the mysteries behind these fascinating and terrifying celestial objects.
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LearningTranscript
00:02you may think it's just a lot of empty space out there but there's more in outer space that meets
00:10the eye our solar system is swarming with asteroids scrap pieces from its genesis four
00:20and a half billion years ago again and again these pieces collide
00:29and even our home planet is a target
00:35above the Russian region of Chelyabinsk a meteoroid explodes spreading destruction and injury
00:45there is an event happening that shows us that this is not just a theoretical subject
00:51the one that happens every few million years in earth history it happens now it happens all the
00:58time to life on earth cosmic debris poses a real threat if we really think we want to stay around
01:06on this planet for a long time hundreds thousands of years into the future this is something we have
01:12to deal with the meteorite that hit what is now Mexico 65 million years ago is a memento
01:22it became famous as the dino killer the dinosaurs did not have telescopes and they did not have a
01:30space program and they are gone we don't want the same thing to happen to us so let's be alert
01:38celestial missiles aimed at us that's what astronomers are watching for
01:45on the very day of the Russian meteor strike an asteroid barely missed planet earth a very recent double event
01:54and an ominous reminder of the meteor menace
02:23Arizona badlands
02:29this desert boasts a striking geological formation meanwhile a prime tourist destination
02:43even a layman will guess that here some violent cataclysm has inscribed itself in the geological record
02:52but he is not a layman christian coberl from vienna university
02:58is an impact expert and this feature is among his specialties its name says it all
03:10meteor crater
03:14christian tries to visualize the scale of an event that would leave behind such a crater
03:26about 50 000 years ago an asteroid was hurtling towards earth with a speed of maybe 15 20 kilometers per
03:35second and it was crashing through the atmosphere
03:40and the asteroid was burying into the ground a little bit and then exploding
03:53the energy that was released was so large that within a few seconds a crater about 20 times the diameter
04:03of the asteroid itself was excavated
04:06not only the energies involved which are about 1000 times that of a hiroshima atomic bomb
04:13but also the speed with which all this happens so this is something that we don't see anywhere else in
04:18the geological record
04:20there are no other geological processes that can do things like this
04:24meteor crater is the best preserved meteorite impact site on earth
04:30upon impact the meteorite vaporized almost completely
04:34huge chunks of bedrock lie scattered around the crater rim
04:40other bits were hurled several miles into the surrounding landscape
04:57moonrise in the night sky earth's natural satellite is itself the result of a cosmic crash
05:08the assumption is that a small body called theia collided with young planet earth some 4.5 billion years ago
05:27the debris hurled into space was eventually compacted into a new object
05:33a natural satellite circling the young earth
05:37some 4.1 billion years ago
05:39this new moon suffered a phase of massive bombardment
05:50this bombardment has pockmarked the face of the moon forever
05:58over billions of years meteorite showers have continued to scar the lunar surface
06:08NASA's lunar reconnaissance orbiter is taking a close look at the moon
06:15its craters are carved in stone
06:17without atmosphere or liquid water there is no erosion
06:21so the scars remain unchanged until new collisions create more craters
06:38the young earth was also hit by countless meteorites
06:43they brought precious gifts from the universe
06:46gold, platinum, and iridium
06:52cosmic missiles have continued to leave ever new traces on our planet
06:58and yet very few impact craters are known
07:02a mere 180
07:05why is that?
07:09on the one hand
07:10almost three quarters of the earth's surface is ocean
07:14on the other
07:15impact traces on land
07:17have been eroded and erased by water, wind, and ice
07:23but cosmic missiles are still peppering the earth
07:26and we can even see them
07:28shooting stars and fireballs in the night sky
07:35February 15th, 2013
07:37February 15th, 2013
07:38out of the ethereal blue
07:40over Russia's Chelyabinsk region
07:42a giant fireball suddenly appears
07:47a cosmic body has approached undetected
07:52the location of the impact is in Russia
07:55east of the Ural Mountains
07:56near the Kazakhstan border
07:58it's an asteroid
08:00about 66 feet in diameter
08:02and it explodes in the earth's atmosphere
08:05near the city of Chelyabinsk
08:14the local population is in a panic
08:17the massive shockwave of the exploding meteoroid
08:25shatters windows and glass ruts of thousands of buildings
08:33even a factory roof collapses
08:36the total damage is enormous
08:41this incident left some 1500 people injured
08:46mostly from flying glands
08:49it's an historic event
08:51never before in recorded history
08:54has a civilization been hit so dramatically
08:57by a cosmic body
09:01fortunately, this cosmic bomb
09:04never hit the ground
09:05but exploded up in the atmosphere
09:08some 15 miles high
09:12here is an event happening
09:14that shows us that this is not just a theoretical subject
09:18one that happens every few million years in earth history
09:22it happens now
09:23it happens all the time
09:25and it is something that we can learn a lot from
09:31there's already calculations of the orbit
09:33where this asteroid was coming from
09:35it tells us something about
09:36how these asteroids react with the earth's atmosphere
09:41never before have we had so much data
09:44about an explosion in the atmosphere like this
09:48and we always have to remember
09:50this is a small event
10:05this gravel pit of the solar system
10:07is the scene of frequent collisions
10:09which send asteroids on trajectories close to earth
10:13which send asteroids on trajectories close to earth
10:17some of these near-earth objects
10:19or NEOs
10:21are potential threats to our planet
10:26NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
10:32the main center for detecting and tracking near-earth objects
10:38Don Yeomans is head of the NEO program
10:42well it's near-earth object potential impacts
10:47is a relatively new field
10:49because until the 1990s astronomers really weren't looking for these objects
10:54and it was only about 1998
10:56when NASA supported facilities started looking every night
10:59for these objects that we discovered so many
11:02so it's comforting to me now that we are looking
11:05and we are finding these objects
11:07and once we find them we can track them with additional observations
11:10we can compute their orbits
11:13trace their trajectories for a hundred years into the future
11:16and see if there's any interesting close-earth approaches
11:19or are there any possible impacts
11:23these radar images show the asteroid 2012 DA14
11:30by coincidence on the same day a meteorite air blasted over Russia
11:35this 130-foot object was also heading towards the earth
11:39the asteroid passed above Indonesia
11:41at a distance of only about 18,000 miles
11:46within the orbits of geostationary satellites
11:55such small objects that are in the 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 meter range
12:01they can come anytime out of the blue sky
12:04and I think this is one of the main messages
12:07that the events on the 15th of February 2013 tell us
12:12there's a lot out there, let's watch out
12:16Mount Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui
12:2310,000 feet above sea level
12:26astronomers are searching for near-Earth objects
12:29the centerpiece of the international Pan-STARRS project
12:33is a unique telescope
12:35PS-1 is a giant wide-angle lens
12:40it surveys a much larger section of the sky than normal telescopes
12:46Pan-STARRS is also equipped with the world's biggest digital camera
12:51each image has 1400 megapixels
12:55roughly 100 times the resolution of an average SLR camera
13:07the telescope is operated from the control center
13:10at the foot of Mount Haleakala
13:12an hour's drive from the summit
13:18each night surveys are coordinated from here
13:22the telescope captures huge sections of the sky with extreme accuracy
13:27in addition, the system scans for moving or changing objects
13:32in this search for near-Earth objects
13:38sections of the sky are defined and systematically surveyed
13:44the telescope scans each field twice
13:50at 15-minute intervals
13:53the result is a massive amount of data
13:56to be processed by astronomers
13:58at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu
14:01the Pan-STARRS NEO discoveries at the time of discovery
14:04officially, the telescope on Mount Haleakala
14:07has been in operation since May 2010
14:10meanwhile, some 300 near-Earth objects have been detected
14:16Larry Denno uses a special program
14:19to visualize newly discovered NEOs
14:33the red paths show those near-Earth asteroids and comets
14:37discovered by Pan-STARRS
14:39several of them seem to almost touch the Earth
14:46but this image only shows one level
14:49many objects speed past far above or below it
14:53without endangering Earth
14:57the scientists have ways to spot suspicious objects in their images
15:02we do a mathematical operation we call image subtraction
15:05from using those two images
15:07and what you're left over with when you do an image subtraction
15:09is something that's moving
15:11will have positive pixels in the first image
15:13and negative pixels in the second image
15:15so, on the screen we have the first image
15:17which is what the sky would look like if Pan-STARRS took a picture of it
15:2015 minutes later we have the same part of sky
15:23and there's an asteroid in the data that's hard to see
15:25but it's moved a little bit in those 15 minutes
15:27and when we subtract the second image from the first
15:30most of the stars disappear
15:32and what you have in the middle is this asteroid that's moved a little bit over the 15 minutes
15:38According to a new NASA study
15:40there are approximately 5,000 potentially hazardous asteroids
15:45wider than 300 feet
15:47so far the search programs have only been able to identify
15:51one out of four
15:52what we need is our telescopes like Pan-STARRS
15:55that have very wide fields of view
15:57that can be read out very quickly
15:58that have a lot of data processing capabilities
16:01that you can analyze the images very quickly
16:03and detect the asteroids efficiently
16:06so we know how to do that
16:07but having bigger telescopes
16:10having more telescopes
16:12and also having some small telescopes
16:15that have extremely wide fields of view
16:16that can image the entire sky every single night
16:19could be really important
16:21The second Pan-STARRS telescope is already in development
16:40Asteroids have left scars on the face of the Earth
16:52Asteroids have left scars on the face of the Earth
16:57but it's often unclear whether these are really impact craters
17:03By the end of 2012
17:06183 meteorite craters were known
17:09number 182 was confirmed only recently
17:14in a remote area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo
17:20the Louisa formation was first described in 1919
17:24but it's never been studied
17:29French scientist Ludovic Ferrier
17:31curates the rock collection at Vienna's Museum of Natural History
17:35he wanted to find out whether the crater really results from an impact
17:42virtual images were not enough
17:46Ludovic needed to see the real crater
17:51so he launched an expedition to the remote site in the Congo
17:57Then in the field it was very difficult to reach the structure itself
18:02and after several days looking around in the grass and along rivers
18:07we finally end up with my assistant in an outcrop
18:11and we found out these rocks
18:13and I was really, really excited when I saw it
18:17It was the first occurrence of shatter cones in these structures
18:20already in the field finding such type of fractured
18:25I was able to say for sure, almost for sure
18:28that it was the site of a very big impact
18:35Fan-shaped shatter cones like these
18:38are evidence of shock waves in the bedrock
18:40and there are even more hints
18:47Thin sections were cut from the samples of the Louisi rock
18:51Under a light microscope, the composition of the rock is revealed
18:59Ludovic Ferrier looked for very specific patterns in the mineral components
19:07For impact researchers, there is one reliable proof of a meteorite impact
19:13a characteristic tell-tale structure in grains of light-colored quartz
19:21Ferrier found what he was looking for
19:24grains of shocked quartz
19:28These crystals are criss-crossed by distinctive lines
19:32The lamellae are caused by shock waves of a meteorite impact
19:39Finally, Ludovic Ferrier found confirmation
19:42that the Louisi formation really was a meteorite impact crater
19:47The first such discovery in Central Africa
19:54Scientists estimate that every day
19:56approximately 100 tons of material from space hits the Earth
20:06April 22nd, 2012
20:11A rock enters the Earth's atmosphere
20:17By coincidence, a camera records the fireball
20:21At this point, the rock is at least the size of a washing machine
20:26But in the end, it breaks up
20:29And a meteorite shower hits the ground
20:38Coloma in California
20:40A historic place
20:47This is a replica of Sutter's Mill
20:50During the construction of the original sawmill in 1848
20:54A worker, James Marshall
20:55Discovered gold and triggered the famous California Gold Rush
21:05164 years later, the Sutter's Mill meteorite
21:09triggered a scientific gold rush
21:14Peter Jeniskins works for NASA and SETI
21:18The search for extraterrestrial intelligence
21:26Supported by a team of volunteers
21:29Here, Peter is searching for meteorites
21:36The terrain is confusing
21:38The weather hot
21:39But the mood is optimistic
21:44The team is looking for small pieces of meteorite
21:47In the thick grass
21:49This is a real challenge
21:51Even for the expert
22:09Geologist Peter Jeniskins is looking for meteorites
22:13But he needs to keep a sharp eye
22:16Apart from true meteorites
22:17There are plenty of false ones
22:19Called meteor wrongs
22:22This is one of the four or five different meteor wrongs
22:28Serpentines like this
22:29Basalts
22:31Charcoal
22:32Asphalt
22:33And poops
22:34Various forms of poop
22:36Are very much looking like you're searching for
22:43The saying goes that he that seeketh findeth
22:46But success has been slow coming
22:51Others like park ranger Suzanne Matten
22:53Did not seek all that hard
22:55She simply had luck on her side
22:58I literally was just walking in the park
23:01And I happened to glance down
23:03And I had just seen one of the meteorites
23:06That the NASA crew, the SETI crew had found
23:08And so I looked down and I thought
23:10Gosh, that looks like what they just showed me
23:13And then I showed it to Peter
23:14And he said yes it was, a meteorite
23:16So it was really funny because I was so not looking
23:19And it seems like that's been a majority of the ones that have been found
23:22Have been people that weren't actually looking for them
23:25And the amazing thing is is I found it probably 150 yards from the original gold discovery site
23:31Another chance find must be verified by Peter Janiskins
23:37This is a real meteorite
23:39Congratulations
23:42Wow, look at that
23:44So this meteorite is really special because it broke very late during the coming down into the earth atmosphere
23:54Because you can see it was split in two
23:58And then the split side was fully crusted
24:01So it was crusted over
24:03So that meant that very deep into the atmosphere this thing broke
24:08But it was still going so fast that the surface melted
24:12This meteorite is also special because it was moving through the atmosphere
24:17It did not tumble around, it really went like this
24:20And we can say that because it was bleeding over the melt layer to the back side of this
24:25Of this meteorite
24:28By the end of 2012, around 75 pieces of the Sutter's Mill meteorite were documented
24:35The biggest weighs half a pound
24:38This one here, just eight grams
24:43That's is Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California
24:47One major focus of research is the origins of life on Earth
24:52And possibly in space
24:58Scientists at the Astrochemistry Lab
25:01Investigate how and where in space organic substances are formed
25:06To carry out their experiments, they mix various chemical compounds
25:12In the end, these cocktails are supposed to produce complex organic molecules
25:25Ultraviolet radiation
25:27A vacuum
25:28And temperatures close to absolute zero
25:31Here, researchers simulate extraterrestrial conditions
25:35They produce ice of the type occurring on comets or planets
25:41Scott Sanford is in charge of these experiments
25:47One goal is to find out how chemical precursors to life form in the universe
25:52And what they are
25:55The organic inventory of meteorites is actually quite diverse
25:59People have found amino acids in them
26:01And these are the building blocks of proteins
26:02Which we use for all kinds of things in living systems today
26:07The nucleobases are found in meteorites
26:09And these are the compounds that are the building blocks of RNA and DNA
26:13So a lot of the basic kinds of molecules that play a real key role in life on Earth
26:19Are found in meteorites
26:21And in many cases we can make those non-biologically
26:24Using processes that happen in environments that are not unrealistic for what we see out in space
26:31Does this mean that organic life is common in the cosmos?
26:35What are the odds that extraterrestrial life exists?
26:40All I can tell you is that everything I've done over the last, you know, 30 years
26:44And my experience tells me that these building blocks are just out there all over the place
26:49The universe is a
26:51The universe is an organic chemist
26:53It's not a very efficient one
26:54But it has very big beakers and a lot of time
26:58So a lot of organics out there
27:03And thus it seems merely a matter of statistics
27:06Whether life could emerge on other planets in space
27:10Thanks to a little start-up help from meteorites
27:15To better understand what happens in nature when a meteorite hits the Earth
27:20Scientists produce meteorite strikes in the lab
27:32This is done at a special facility in southwest Germany
27:45Preparations are underway for a spectacular experiment
27:48A one-ton block of sandstone is about to become a target
27:57The steel projectile on the cylinder will play the role of the meteorite
28:02The experiment will be carried out with a two-stage light gas gun
28:08A plastic piston is accelerated by detonating three pounds of explosives
28:14The piston compresses hydrogen gas in the gun to around 36,000 PSI
28:23This overload pressure propels the steel projectile towards the target
28:33The sandstone block is wired up to record the effects of the impact
28:41The colors of the target are to make it easier to attribute the debris
28:47Since the procedure is extremely fast, it is filmed with a high-speed camera
28:57The moment has arrived, the bunker is closed
29:03These massive walls are needed
29:06Because extreme energies are unleashed
29:11A few final settings are made in the control room
29:14Then the accelerator is activated
29:18The countdown starts
29:21Three, two, one, fire
29:25No
29:43The engineers and scientists are eager to see the outcome
29:49First of all, the researchers collect all the fragments
29:53Their size and dispersion provide important information about the impact
29:59Frank Schaefer from the Ernst Mach Institute in Freiburg, Germany
30:04Examines the crater
30:07The procedure only lasted between 20 and 30 milliseconds
30:12And was filmed at 54,000 frames per second
30:19After a flash of light upon impact, the displaced material is hurled out
30:25The scientists are satisfied
30:28The steel projectile had a speed of 2.7 miles per second
30:34More than 10,000 miles per hour
30:37These experiments are part of the MEMEN project
30:43The researchers want to reconstruct actual meteorite impacts
30:48For until now, no impact has been studied live
30:51Ambitious goals at any standard
31:04At the Berlin Natural History Museum, Kai Wunemann is also working on the MEMEN project
31:12But he looks at meteorite impacts from a different perspective
31:19Kai Wunemann simulates meteorite impacts in a computer as realistically as possible
31:29Kai and his team compute numerical simulations of cosmic strikes
31:39In the MEMEN project, Kai uses data from the ballistic tests in the laboratory
31:44The computer model for this kind of virtual experiment is complex enough
31:49For example, simulating the damage to the sandstone block
31:57But a physical meteorite hit is a different matter
32:00You can't resolve a single grain in a rock
32:04And at the same time, rock units of hundreds of meters
32:10In reality, you basically run two different models
32:14And resolve a single process
32:15Try to understand what's happening on a very tiny scale
32:20Try to make some generalizations from what you see there
32:24And then put these information into a large scale model
32:29However, the art of the scientists is to extrapolate lab results
32:33In order to understand real life occurrences
32:41Such simulations are meant to help predict the effects of an asteroid impact
32:49Because one thing is clear
32:51The next hit is merely a matter of time
33:01There are plenty of ideas about how to protect the Earth from potential impacts
33:07One example is a spacecraft with a laser system
33:17The laser beam would vaporize material on the surface of the asteroid
33:22The recoil would gradually push the asteroid from its collision course
33:29Another idea is the gravity tractor
33:32A massive spacecraft that would be positioned near the asteroid
33:39Relying on the gravitational attraction between the two
33:42The spacecraft would be able to pull the object off course
33:53There is another idea
33:55The tough approach
33:57Intercepting asteroids on collision course
34:07Some scientists are itching to literally knock out such dangerous missiles from space
34:27Alan Harris is an enthusiastic snooker player
34:30And one of the world's leading asteroid researchers
34:42With his team, Alan is working to save the Earth
34:46If worse should come to worst
34:52Alan works at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin
34:56He is in charge of the NeoShield project
34:59Launched in early 2012
35:01It is the first international project for deflecting asteroids
35:07So in a sense we are playing cosmic billiards
35:10In that we are striking the asteroid with our spacecraft
35:15And we are looking at transfer of momentum
35:19There are two things that come into this
35:21Conservation of momentum and conservation of energy
35:25If you have ever played snooker or billiards
35:27You will know all about those things
35:31For a planned defence action
35:33Scientists first analyse key properties of an asteroid
35:37Size and shape, composition and rotation
35:43One source of information about asteroids is their light curve
35:49A simple experiment illustrates the importance of the light curve
35:53The spotlight represents the sun
35:58A model asteroid serves as a test object
36:02When the asteroid rotates, its brightness constantly changes
36:09The interplay of light and shadow reveals the body's form and rotation rate
36:18Rotation is important if an asteroid is to be knocked off its path
36:23What we are interested in with NeoShield is the next one
36:27Right? The next object that we are going to be so worried about
36:32That we think we should do something about it
36:34We should launch a mitigation mission
36:35Now that will come one day
36:37But it won't be a big object
36:38It will be something of the order of between 50 metres and 200 metres in size
36:43Okay? And that's relatively easy to deal with
36:46The impact of an object like that could be very serious
36:49It could largely destroy a city like Berlin, Paris, London
37:06One of the partners in the NeoShield project is the Fraunhofer Institute for High Speed Dynamics in Freiburg, Germany
37:15Ballistic tests are also carried out here, albeit on a smaller scale
37:21The space gun is loaded for the next experiment
37:25In this NeoShield experiment, a 10-pound sandstone cube will be shot at
37:31The unusual thing is that the block is suspended to swing freely, representing a flying asteroid
37:41Here too, health and safety is a priority
37:47The space gun shoots projectiles at speeds of up to 22,000 miles per hour
37:57The block of sandstone is ready
38:13A few final adjustments are made, and the gun is ready to fire
38:36Impact and ejection happen so quickly that the massive block has had no time to swing
38:44The scientists, led by Frank Schaefer, study the video to see how big the pieces of debris are after impact
38:51And how much the laboratory asteroid was moved in the end
38:55In the experiments we observed that large quantities of rock are hurled from the crater in the opposite direction of
39:02the projectile
39:10This recoil gives the rock that we shot at additional momentum
39:16So that it is knocked off its position even further than only by the actual momentum of the impacting projectile
39:27The results of these ballistic tests will be used in the NeoShield project
39:33As will the data and findings of the other international research institutes and companies participating in the project
39:42Based on technologies available today, the scientists have drawn up a scenario for deflecting an asteroid on collision course
39:54First, an observer spacecraft would be used to fly toward the asteroid
39:59First, an observer spacecraft would be used to fly toward the asteroid
39:59To measure and study it as accurately as possible
40:04The data would enable scientists to precisely adjust their impacting tool
40:10Then, the kinetic impactor is launched
40:15A flying battering ram
40:24The biggest challenge is hitting the asteroid in exactly the right place to achieve the greatest effect
40:38Ideally, the impactor spacecraft would hit the asteroid with sufficient force to deflect it
40:46To demonstrate that their plan would work
40:49The NeoShield scientists would eventually like to launch a mission to push a real asteroid off course
40:56At any rate, it is clear that in the long term, humankind has to brace for a potentially disastrous impact
41:05For me, it's a technical challenge, a scientific challenge
41:07I'm not worried about it, I wouldn't expect anybody else to be worried about it
41:10But for the long term, uh, survival, if you like, of mankind
41:14Or the long term development of our civilization on this planet
41:18This is really something we've got to worry about
41:23We don't want to be caught by an incoming asteroid that we didn't see coming
41:27So let's build a survey telescope in space
41:30Let's build one on the ground
41:32Let's make sure we find the next asteroid before it finds us
41:39Near-Earth objects always get what I call bad press
41:42Because they're threatening objects
41:44People worry about them
41:45But subsequent collisions of these objects with the Earth
41:48With the punctuated evolution allowing the most adaptable species
41:52The mammals to progress further
41:54So in some sense, we owe our very existence
41:56And our position atop the food chain to these near-Earth objects
42:02Because they happen in geological time periods
42:05So with very long intervals in between
42:08I don't think we need to be afraid right now
42:10But in the future, impacts will happen
42:14This time, it wasn't the end of the world
42:17But there's no doubt that another asteroid will come towards us
42:22Headed for collision
42:24The only question is
42:26When?
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