Destiny In Space Page #3

---

we see only the lights of

its cargo bay in the darkness.

But we can't see the harmful cosmic

radiation that is everywhere here.

High-energy charged particles ...

are streaming out from

the Sun and other stars.

On Earth, we are protected

by the atmosphere ...

and the surrounding

magnetic field.

In space, the radiation can

penetrate the walls of our craft.

A Japanese x-ray satellite reveals

vast clouds of radiation ...

erupting from the Sun.

On interplanetary trips ...

we'll have to retreat to

heavily shielded onboard shelters ...

whenever solar storms are sighted.

Most of the planets are too

hostile for people to visit.

But that doesn't stop us

from exploring them.

Okay, understand. We have a go

for deploy, so we're starting out.

Five, four, three ...

two, one, mark.

- Do we have motion?

- I see motion.

It's stable? It's clear of the ASE.

Where humans cannot safely go ...

we send remotely controlled

robot explorers.

Commanding them from Earth ...

we use their electronic eyes and sensors

to explore the alien landscape.

In 1989, the Galileo spacecraft ...

began a five-year journey to Jupiter ...

the largest planet

in our solar system.

Galileo just kind of dissolves

out into nothingness ...

as it goes into the

darkness of space.

And that's the last we saw of it.

Early images of Jupiter were

sent back to Earth in 1979 ...

by two robot probes named Voyager.

This was our first opportunity

to marvel at its Great Red Spot ...

three times the size of Earth.

The molecular building

blocks for life ...

may be swirling within Jupiter's

turbulent atmosphere.

If Galileo's probe confirms this ...

we should gain new insights

into the origins of life.

Though it is our nearest planetary

neighbor, Venus was always a mystery.

Thick cloud layers blocked

our view of its surface.

Then we sent a spacecraft

named Magellan to orbit the planet.

Its radar eyes could see

through the clouds.

Magellan collected so much data ...

that we can now explore the surface

as if we were actually there.

We begin 60,000 feet up.

To help scientists

recognize its features ...

a computer has exaggerated the

height of the terrain 10 times.

Perhaps these pancake domes ...

were caused by lava pushing through

weak spots in the surface.

These craters, some the

size of Connecticut ...

were made by collisions

with comets and asteroids.

On Earth, ancient craters like these

have been eroded by wind and water.

But there is little

wind and no water here.

Venus swelters beneath a thick

atmosphere of carbon dioxide ...

which acts like a greenhouse:

It allows sunlight to filter in,

but then traps the heat inside.

The surface temperature

Rate this script:5.0 / 3 votes