WEBVTT

00:00:18.982 --> 00:00:21.812
I want to talk about two planets

00:00:21.832 --> 00:00:24.685
the title is really,
"A tale of two planets" -

00:00:24.705 --> 00:00:26.122
Earth and Mars.

00:00:26.143 --> 00:00:30.880
I want to talk about
4.6 billion years of history

00:00:30.901 --> 00:00:32.404
in 18 minutes.

00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:35.599
That's 300 million years per minute.

00:00:35.987 --> 00:00:38.046
Let's begin the talk.

00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:42.738
Let's start with the first photograph
NASA obtained

00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:46.599
of planet Mars.

00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:48.599
This is fly-by, Mariner IV.

00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.205
It was taken in 1965.

00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:54.199
When this picture appeared,

00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:57.199
that well-known scientific journal,

00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.199
The New York Times,
wrote in its editorial,

00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:02.199
"Mars is uninteresting.

00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:05.199
It's a dead world.
NASA should not spend

00:01:05.220 --> 00:01:08.860
any time or effort studying Mars anymore."

00:01:08.906 --> 00:01:11.169
Fortunately, our leaders in Washington

00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.199
at NASA headquarters knew better

00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.420
and we began a very extensive study

00:01:17.041 --> 00:01:19.040
of the red planet.

00:01:19.061 --> 00:01:22.061
One of the key questions
in all of science,

00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:24.931
"Is there life outside of Earth?"

00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.915
I believe that Mars
is the most likely target

00:01:28.985 --> 00:01:30.701
for life outside the Earth.

00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:32.738
I'm going to show you in a few minutes

00:01:32.787 --> 00:01:35.352
some amazing measurements that suggest

00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:37.399
there may be life on Mars.

00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.400
But let me start with a Viking photograph.

00:01:40.447 --> 00:01:44.584
This is a composite
taken by Viking in 1976.

00:01:44.741 --> 00:01:49.042
Viking was developed and managed

00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:51.579
at the NASA Langley Research Center.

00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:55.920
We sent two orbiters and two landers
in the summer of 1976.

00:01:56.139 --> 00:01:59.482
We had four spacecraft, two around Mars,

00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:01.545
two on the surface -

00:02:01.568 --> 00:02:03.331
an amazing accomplishment.

00:02:03.361 --> 00:02:05.579
This is the first photograph taken

00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:07.599
from the surface of any planet.

00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:09.598
This is a Viking Lander photograph

00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:11.599
of the surface of Mars.

00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:14.599
And yes, the red planet is red.

00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.839
Mars is half the size of the Earth,

00:02:18.876 --> 00:02:21.875
but because two-thirds
of the Earth is covered by water,

00:02:22.146 --> 00:02:24.638
the land area on Mars

00:02:24.685 --> 00:02:26.684
is comparable to the land area on Earth.

00:02:26.725 --> 00:02:30.622
So, Mars is a pretty big place
even though it's half the size.

00:02:31.606 --> 00:02:34.605
We have obtained topographic measurements

00:02:34.626 --> 00:02:36.221
of the surface of Mars.

00:02:36.256 --> 00:02:39.213
We understand the elevation differences.

00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:41.399
We know a lot about Mars.

00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:45.219
Mars has the largest volcano
in the solar system,

00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:47.243
Olympus Mons.

00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.362
Mars has the Grand Canyon

00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.399
of the solar system, Valles Marineris.

00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:54.399
Very, very interesting planet.

00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:57.399
Mars has the largest

00:02:57.380 --> 00:02:59.379
impact crater in the solar system,

00:02:59.925 --> 00:03:01.399
Hellas Basin.

00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:03.399
This is 2,000 miles across.

00:03:03.949 --> 00:03:05.399
If you happened to be on Mars

00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.399
when this impactor hit,

00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:09.399
it was a really bad day on Mars.

00:03:09.739 --> 00:03:11.399
(Laughter)

00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:14.299
This is Olympus Mons.

00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:17.299
This is bigger than the state of Arizona.

00:03:17.320 --> 00:03:19.938
Volcanoes are important, because volcanoes

00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:22.999
produce atmospheres
and they produce oceans.

00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:26.299
We're looking at Valles Marineris,

00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:28.299
the largest canyon in the solar system,

00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:31.299
superimposed on a map
of the United States,

00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:33.299
3,000 miles across.

00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:37.099
One of the most intriguing features
about Mars,

00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:39.099
the National Academy of Science says

00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:42.738
one of the 10 major mysteries
of the space age,

00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.214
is why certain areas of Mars

00:03:45.244 --> 00:03:47.243
are so highly magnetized.

00:03:47.307 --> 00:03:49.306
We call this crustal magnetism.

00:03:49.331 --> 00:03:52.330
There are regions on Mars, where,
for some reason -

00:03:52.363 --> 00:03:54.960
we don't understand why at this point -

00:03:54.996 --> 00:03:57.995
the surface is very,
very highly magnetized.

00:03:58.016 --> 00:04:00.016
Crustal magnetism.

00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:04.903
Is there water on Mars?

00:04:04.924 --> 00:04:07.923
The answer is no, there is no liquid water

00:04:07.945 --> 00:04:09.944
on the surface of Mars today.

00:04:09.965 --> 00:04:12.292
But there is intriguing evidence

00:04:12.332 --> 00:04:15.199
that suggests
that in early history of Mars

00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:17.500
there may have been rivers

00:04:17.524 --> 00:04:20.199
and fast flowing water.

00:04:20.200 --> 00:04:22.199
Today Mars is very very dry.

00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:25.829
We believe there's some water
in the polar caps,

00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:28.572
there are polar caps
of North Pole and South Pole.

00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.599
Here are some recent images.

00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:33.123
This is from Spirit and Opportunity.

00:04:33.144 --> 00:04:35.498
These images that show at one time,

00:04:35.552 --> 00:04:39.188
there was very fast flowing water
on the surface of Mars.

00:04:39.234 --> 00:04:42.220
Why is water important?
Water is important

00:04:42.258 --> 00:04:45.258
because if you want life
you have to have water.

00:04:45.456 --> 00:04:47.572
Water is the key ingredient

00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:51.302
in the evolution,
the origin of life on a planet.

00:04:51.905 --> 00:04:54.096
Here is some picture of Antarctica

00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:56.599
and a picture of Olympus Mons,

00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:58.599
very similar features, glaciers.

00:04:59.200 --> 00:05:01.199
So, this is frozen water.

00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:03.622
This is ice water on Mars.

00:05:03.707 --> 00:05:07.427
This is my favorite picture.
This was just taken a few weeks ago.

00:05:07.448 --> 00:05:09.379
It has not been seen publicly.

00:05:09.400 --> 00:05:12.041
This is European space agency

00:05:12.062 --> 00:05:15.279
Mars Express, image of a crater on Mars

00:05:15.378 --> 00:05:17.081
and in the middle of the crater

00:05:17.102 --> 00:05:20.101
we have liquid water, we have ice.

00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:22.599
Very intriguing photograph.

00:05:24.586 --> 00:05:28.379
We now believe
that in the early history of Mars,

00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:31.399
which is 4.6 billion years ago,

00:05:31.400 --> 00:05:35.501
4.6 billion years ago,
Mars was very Earth-like.

00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.686
Mars had rivers, Mars had lakes,

00:05:38.707 --> 00:05:42.726
but more important
Mars had planetary-scale oceans.

00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.537
We believe that the oceans
were in the northern hemisphere,

00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:48.578
and this area in blue,

00:05:48.659 --> 00:05:51.887
which shows a depression
of about four miles,

00:05:51.960 --> 00:05:54.959
was the ancient ocean area

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:56.605
on the surface of Mars.

00:05:56.635 --> 00:05:59.851
Where did the ocean's worth
of water on Mars go?

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.883
Well, we have an idea.

00:06:01.928 --> 00:06:04.927
This is a measurement
we obtained a few years ago

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.476
from a Mars-orbiting satellite
called Odyssey.

00:06:08.674 --> 00:06:10.944
Sub-surface water on Mars,

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.167
frozen in the form of ice.

00:06:13.269 --> 00:06:16.770
And this shows the percent.
If it's a blueish color,

00:06:16.793 --> 00:06:19.463
it means 16 percent by weight.

00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:21.971
Sixteen percent, by weight,
of the interior

00:06:22.020 --> 00:06:24.805
contains frozen water, or ice.

00:06:24.826 --> 00:06:27.606
So, there is a lot of water
below the surface.

00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:32.498
The most intriguing
and puzzling measurement,

00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.648
in my opinion, we've obtained of Mars,

00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.799
was released earlier this year

00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.476
in the magazine Science.

00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.945
And what we're looking at
is the presence of the gas methane,

00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:49.651
CH4, in the atmosphere of Mars.

00:06:50.228 --> 00:06:53.228
And you can see there are three
distinct regions of methane.

00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:55.799
Why is methane important?

00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:57.799
Because on Earth, almost all -

00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:00.799
99.9 percent - of the methane

00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.799
is produced by living systems,

00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:07.556
not little green men, but microscopic life

00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:09.893
below the surface or at the surface.

00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:12.199
We now have evidence

00:07:12.200 --> 00:07:15.199
that methane is in the atmosphere of Mars,

00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:17.199
a gas that, on Earth,

00:07:17.200 --> 00:07:19.199
is biogenic in origin,

00:07:19.200 --> 00:07:20.924
produced by living systems.

00:07:24.679 --> 00:07:28.532
These are the three plumes: A, B1, B2.

00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:32.099
And this is the terrain it appears over,

00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:35.099
and we know from geological studies

00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:38.666
that these regions
are the oldest regions on Mars.

00:07:38.743 --> 00:07:41.015
In fact, the Earth and Mars

00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:44.100
are both 4.6 billion years old.

00:07:44.631 --> 00:07:48.622
The oldest rock on Earth
is only 3.6 billion.

00:07:48.679 --> 00:07:51.678
The reason there is a billion-year gap

00:07:51.702 --> 00:07:53.701
in our geological understanding

00:07:53.742 --> 00:07:55.741
is because of plate tectonics,

00:07:55.762 --> 00:07:58.761
The crust of the Earth has been recycled.

00:07:58.781 --> 00:08:00.781
So the oldest rock on Earth

00:08:02.831 --> 00:08:06.559
is a billion years after the Earth formed.

00:08:06.580 --> 00:08:08.579
We have no geological record prior

00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:10.599
for the first billion years.

00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:12.599
That record exists on Mars.

00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:14.900
And this terrain that we're looking at

00:08:14.948 --> 00:08:17.781
dates back to 4.6 billion years

00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:21.599
when Earth and Mars were formed.

00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.599
It was a Tuesday.

00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:25.599
(Laughter)

00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:27.599
This is a map that shows

00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:31.462
where we've put our spacecraft
on the surface of Mars.

00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:34.599
Here is Viking I, Viking II.

00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:37.186
This is Opportunity. This is Spirit.

00:08:37.211 --> 00:08:38.948
This is Mars Pathfinder.

00:08:38.969 --> 00:08:41.464
This is Phoenix,
we just put two years ago.

00:08:41.779 --> 00:08:45.147
Notice all of our rovers
and all of our landers

00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:47.774
have gone to the northern hemisphere.

00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.330
That's because the northern hemisphere

00:08:50.351 --> 00:08:52.350
is the region of the ancient

00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.440
ocean basin.

00:08:54.461 --> 00:08:56.352
There aren't many craters.

00:08:56.388 --> 00:08:59.574
And that's because the water
protected the basin

00:08:59.626 --> 00:09:03.172
from being impacted
by asteroids and meteorites.

00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.133
But look in the southern hemisphere.

00:09:06.158 --> 00:09:09.109
In the southern hemisphere
there are impact craters,

00:09:09.131 --> 00:09:10.601
there are volcanic craters.

00:09:10.622 --> 00:09:12.331
Here's Hellas Basin,

00:09:12.352 --> 00:09:15.351
a very very different place, geologically.

00:09:15.594 --> 00:09:18.487
Look where the methane is,
the methane is in a very

00:09:18.508 --> 00:09:20.971
rough terrain area.

00:09:22.356 --> 00:09:24.550
What is the best way to unravel

00:09:24.603 --> 00:09:27.602
the mysteries on Mars that exist?

00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.430
We asked this question 10 years ago.

00:09:31.507 --> 00:09:34.867
We invited 10 of the top Mars scientists

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:38.000
to the Langley Research Center
for two days.

00:09:38.285 --> 00:09:40.441
We addressed on the board

00:09:40.467 --> 00:09:43.466
the major questions
that have not been answered.

00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.568
And we spent two days deciding

00:09:46.589 --> 00:09:49.279
how to best answer this question.

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.787
And the result of our meeting -

00:09:52.814 --> 00:09:57.216
two day meeting, on the best way
to solve these questions on Mars -

00:09:57.946 --> 00:10:03.209
was a robotic rocket-powered airplane
we call ARES.

00:10:04.018 --> 00:10:08.044
It's an Aerial Regional-scale
Environmental Surveyor.

00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:10.337
There's a model of ARES here.

00:10:10.357 --> 00:10:13.212
No speaker has made mention to it before,

00:10:13.232 --> 00:10:16.440
but it's been here
since last night when I brought it,

00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.168
This is a 20-percent scale model.

00:10:19.189 --> 00:10:23.085
This airplane was designed
at the Langley Research Center.

00:10:23.147 --> 00:10:25.146
If any place in the world

00:10:25.167 --> 00:10:27.299
can build an airplane to fly on Mars,

00:10:27.369 --> 00:10:29.368
it's the Langley Research Center,

00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.599
for almost 100 years

00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.599
a leading center of aeronautics
in the world.

00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.865
We fly about a mile above the surface.

00:10:37.886 --> 00:10:39.885
We cover hundreds of miles,

00:10:39.938 --> 00:10:42.768
and we fly about 450 miles an hour.

00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:46.979
We can do things that rovers can't do

00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:48.999
and landers can't do:

00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.999
We can fly above mountains,
volcanoes, impact craters;

00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.999
we fly over valleys;

00:10:54.020 --> 00:10:57.118
we can fly over surface magnetism,

00:10:57.180 --> 00:10:59.666
the polar caps, subsurface water;

00:10:59.755 --> 00:11:01.754
and we can search for life on Mars.

00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:05.599
But, of equal importance,

00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.599
as we fly through the atmosphere of Mars,

00:11:08.892 --> 00:11:11.154
we transmit that journey,

00:11:11.175 --> 00:11:14.225
the first flight of an airplane
outside of the Earth,

00:11:14.297 --> 00:11:17.296
we transmit those images back to Earth.

00:11:17.417 --> 00:11:21.503
And our goal is to inspire
the American public

00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.599
who is paying for this mission
through tax dollars.

00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:27.599
But more important we will

00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.599
inspire the next generation of scientists,

00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:33.599
technologists, engineers
and mathematicians.

00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.600
And that's a critical area
of national security

00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.600
and economic vitality, to make sure

00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:43.599
we produce the next generation

00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:46.599
of scientists, engineers,
mathematicians and technologists.

00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:50.549
This is what ARES looks like

00:11:50.570 --> 00:11:52.569
as it flies over Mars.

00:11:52.602 --> 00:11:54.168
We preprogram it.

00:11:54.189 --> 00:11:56.751
We will fly where the methane is.

00:11:56.785 --> 00:11:59.299
We will have instruments aboard the plane

00:11:59.328 --> 00:12:03.109
that will sample, every three minutes,
the atmosphere of Mars.

00:12:03.317 --> 00:12:04.838
We will look for methane

00:12:04.865 --> 00:12:06.687
as well as other gasses

00:12:06.746 --> 00:12:08.504
produced by living systems.

00:12:08.525 --> 00:12:12.219
We will pinpoint
where these gases emanate from,

00:12:12.261 --> 00:12:15.601
because we can measure the gradient
where it comes from,

00:12:15.634 --> 00:12:19.061
and there, we can direct the next mission

00:12:19.126 --> 00:12:21.827
to land right in that area.

00:12:23.380 --> 00:12:26.379
How do we transport an airplane to Mars?

00:12:26.800 --> 00:12:29.799
In two words, very carefully.

00:12:29.800 --> 00:12:33.223
The problem is we don't fly it to Mars,

00:12:33.562 --> 00:12:36.152
we put it in a spacecraft

00:12:36.221 --> 00:12:38.136
and we send it to Mars.

00:12:38.157 --> 00:12:40.747
The problem is the spacecraft's

00:12:40.800 --> 00:12:43.800
largest diameter is nine feet;

00:12:44.133 --> 00:12:48.804
ARES is 21-foot wingspan, 17 feet long.

00:12:49.800 --> 00:12:51.799
How do we get it to Mars?

00:12:51.800 --> 00:12:53.038
We fold it,

00:12:53.062 --> 00:12:56.641
and we transport it in a spacecraft.

00:12:57.109 --> 00:13:00.467
And we have it in something
called an aeroshell.

00:13:00.581 --> 00:13:02.580
This is how we do it.

00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:07.207
And we have a little video
that describes the sequence.

00:13:07.245 --> 00:13:12.064
Video: Seven, six. Green board.
Five, four, three, two, one.

00:13:12.131 --> 00:13:15.131
Main engine start, and liftoff.

00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.188
Joel Levine: This is a launch
from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.315
This is the spacecraft taking nine months

00:13:36.393 --> 00:13:38.119
to get to Mars.

00:13:38.140 --> 00:13:41.039
It enters the atmosphere of Mars.

00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:44.349
A lot of heating, frictional heating.

00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.199
It's going 18 thousand miles an hour.

00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.200
A parachute opens up to slow it down.

00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.247
The thermal tiles fall off.

00:13:55.268 --> 00:13:58.267
The airplane is exposed
to the atmosphere for the first time.

00:13:58.846 --> 00:14:00.335
It unfolds.

00:14:01.676 --> 00:14:03.676
The rocket engine begins.

00:14:10.168 --> 00:14:13.167
We believe that in a one-hour flight

00:14:13.192 --> 00:14:16.191
we can rewrite the textbook on Mars

00:14:16.358 --> 00:14:19.357
by making high-resolution measurements
of the atmosphere,

00:14:19.533 --> 00:14:22.016
looking for gases of biogenic origin,

00:14:22.057 --> 00:14:25.056
looking for gases of volcanic origin,

00:14:25.318 --> 00:14:28.532
studying the surface,
studying the magnetism

00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:30.817
on the surface, which we don't understand,

00:14:30.918 --> 00:14:33.897
as well as about a dozen other areas.

00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:35.760
Practice makes perfect.

00:14:35.795 --> 00:14:37.602
How do we know we can do it?

00:14:37.623 --> 00:14:41.252
Because we have tested ARES model,

00:14:41.326 --> 00:14:44.196
several models
in a half a dozen wind tunnels

00:14:44.224 --> 00:14:47.223
at the NASA Langley Research Center
for eight years,

00:14:47.247 --> 00:14:49.688
under Mars conditions.

00:14:49.803 --> 00:14:51.802
And, of equal importance

00:14:51.842 --> 00:14:55.259
is, we test ARES
in the Earth's atmosphere,

00:14:55.629 --> 00:14:57.687
at 100,000 feet,

00:14:57.708 --> 00:15:01.561
which is comparable
to the density and pressure

00:15:01.582 --> 00:15:04.260
of the atmosphere on Mars where we'll fly.

00:15:04.295 --> 00:15:07.752
Now, 100,000 feet, if you fly
cross-country to Los Angeles,

00:15:07.787 --> 00:15:09.786
you fly 37,000 feet.

00:15:09.985 --> 00:15:12.821
We do our tests at 100,000 feet.

00:15:12.843 --> 00:15:15.742
And I want to show you one of our tests.

00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:17.607
This is a half-scale model.

00:15:17.644 --> 00:15:20.179
This is a high-altitude helium balloon.

00:15:20.535 --> 00:15:23.199
This is over Tilamook, Oregon.

00:15:23.430 --> 00:15:27.139
We put the folded airplane
on the balloon -

00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.504
it took about three hours
to get up there -

00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:31.599
and then we released it on command

00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.599
at 103,000 feet,

00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:39.142
and we deploy the airplane
and everything works perfectly.

00:15:39.800 --> 00:15:41.799
And we've done

00:15:41.800 --> 00:15:43.799
high-altitude and low-altitude tests,

00:15:43.800 --> 00:15:46.800
just to perfect this technique.

00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:51.117
We're ready to go.

00:15:51.138 --> 00:15:53.545
I have a scale model here.

00:15:53.823 --> 00:15:56.172
But we have a full-scale model

00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:59.199
in storage at the NASA
Langley Research Center.

00:15:59.400 --> 00:16:00.923
We're ready to go.

00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.999
All we need is a check
from NASA headquarters

00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:05.999
(Laughter)

00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.999
to cover the costs.

00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.999
I'm prepared to donate
my honorarium for today's talk

00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:12.999
for this mission.

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.000
There's actually no honorarium
for anyone for this thing.

00:16:16.254 --> 00:16:18.253
This is the ARES team;

00:16:18.301 --> 00:16:22.133
we have about 150 scientists, engineers;

00:16:22.174 --> 00:16:24.555
where we're working
with Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

00:16:24.576 --> 00:16:26.174
Goddard Space Flight Center,

00:16:26.198 --> 00:16:29.569
Ames Research Center
and half a dozen major universities

00:16:29.627 --> 00:16:31.771
and corporations in developing this.

00:16:31.896 --> 00:16:33.863
It's a large effort.

00:16:34.444 --> 00:16:38.549
It's all led
at NASA Langley Research Center.

00:16:38.785 --> 00:16:41.784
And let me conclude by saying

00:16:41.805 --> 00:16:43.594
not too far from here,

00:16:43.650 --> 00:16:46.428
right down the road in Kittyhawk,
North Carolina,

00:16:46.449 --> 00:16:48.448
a little more than 100 years ago

00:16:48.635 --> 00:16:50.110
history was made

00:16:50.131 --> 00:16:53.130
when we had the first powered flight
of an airplane on Earth.

00:16:53.150 --> 00:16:55.150
And in Anna McGowan's talk,

00:16:55.170 --> 00:16:59.254
you heard about
where we're going in the next 100 years.

00:16:59.741 --> 00:17:01.740
We are on the verge right now

00:17:01.794 --> 00:17:04.604
to make the first flight of an airplane

00:17:04.657 --> 00:17:06.656
outside the Earth's atmosphere.

00:17:06.682 --> 00:17:09.429
We are prepared to fly this on Mars,

00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:11.795
rewrite the textbook about Mars.

00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:15.378
If you're interested in more information,

00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.281
we have a website
that describes this exciting

00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:22.012
and intriguing mission,
and why we want to do it.

00:17:22.042 --> 00:17:23.520
Thank you very much.

00:17:23.546 --> 00:17:26.296
(Applause)