03x12 - Space/Astronomy

[bunniefuu]

Today, blast off on DFTV as

kids send weather instruments into space.

Hey, this works. Look for water on

Mars. Here we are on a potentially

hostile planet. Here, get a reading of

that rock. b*mb the wave. And escape

Earth's gravity. That was awesome. Did

you see that?Oh my God, that's so neat.

That's so cool. Major funding for

Dragonfly TV is provided by the Best Buy

Children's Foundation. We're excited to

see kids like you exploring the world of

science and technology, because what

you're learning is going to change the

way we live. Best by the future looks

fun. And

by the National Science Foundation,

supporting education and research in

science, mathematics and technology.

The National Science Foundation,

America's investment in the future.

Dragonfly

TV.

Dragonfly TV. This is

Dragonfly TV. I'm Michael. And I'm

Mariko. You know, anyone can be a little

out there sometimes. Yeah, you should

know.

Sorry.

But today, being out there is OK because

we're exploring space. So prepare for

liftoff as a team of girls launch rockets

with some very creative cargo. And what

goes up must drop down. Or does it?

Tiana and Sammi are trying to get rid of

gravity. But first, we're heading to

Arizona, where Trey and TJ are on a

desert quest for water. As if they're on

Mars.

I'm Trey. And I'm TJ. Tonight, we're

going to look at Mars.

Yeah, it's probably... Yeah, it's because

this is the closest Mars has been in,

like, 60,000 years. Mars is

really orange. Orange is kind of reddish.

Yeah, and you can see the two ice caps

really easy. Mars is my favorite

planet because it's got mountains and

craters and stuff just like Earth does,

but it's more extreme. I think it'd be

cool to be the first person on Mars

'cause you'd be stepping where no man had

ever stepped before. You'd find different

and new minerals, maybe even life forms.

It'd be awesome. One small step for man.

We keep up with images that NASA sends

back from Mars. There are many pictures

taken by the rover on the planet's

surface. And orbiting satellites like

NASA's Mars Odyssey. We found cool

images from the Themis project taken with

a camera that sees infrared light, but we

wondered what the different Gray areas

meant. We found out that this infrared or

IR camera shows how hot and cold things

are on Mars, and they are using IR

images to look for water, even though

there's no open water on Mars.

Instead, they're looking for underground

hot springs that would show up as hot

spots on the surface. We

think it's so cool that there might be

liquid water underground on Mars. Yeah,

because where there's water, there could

be life. We wanted to see for ourselves

how an IR camera could help you find

water. So we contacted the scientists at

Arizona State University who were

controlling the famous camera. And we

borrowed an IR camera ourselves so that

we could figure out just how a satellite

orbiting Mars could find underground

water on the planet's surface.

Before we can start looking for water, we

need to understand how an IR camera

works. An IR camera records different

temperatures using different shades of

Gray and sometimes different colors. In

the color camera that we're using, we get

to assign colors to a temperature range.

Things that are warmer look redder, and

things that are colder look more blue. So

a rock that has been heated by the sun

all day looks red. And a pond filled with

cold water looks blue. Tell it like it

is. Yeah!

We set out toward hot springs country

with an IR camera to see how the Mars

satellite team might find underground

water. Thanks for the ride, sir.

Thanks, Dad. Bye.

Here we are on a potentially hostile

planet in the wilderness. Space

explorers willing to take any risk for a

nice, hot, soothing bath.

That's crazy, man. We know there are hot

springs around here. We just don't know

exactly where.

To see how different materials heat up

during the day, we'll take a reading of

this spot while it's still in the shade,

and when the sun warms things up, we'll

take another ring to compare the results.

Now, TJ, get a reading of this tree right

here, 72 degrees. What about the

this group of rocks right here?75,



right here. 82, 83

degrees. Try the floor.



data, we set off again in search of hot

springs.

Oh, look at that water over there. Cool.

It looks nasty, though. Here, get a

reading of that rock. The really hot

spots where it's white,are about



are about 82 degrees. We weren't

finding any hot springs, so we circled

back to the gully to take new readings in

the sun. Wow, it's really hot down here.

So the tree went from 73 to 103, which is



from82 to



went from 75 to 104, 140.

And then the floor went from 73 to



hottest. And what's what's the coolest?

The coolest is the. Yeah, the sand

wall. So the sandy wall only heated up by



heated up by 65 degrees. So

basically, different surfaces

absorb heat at different rates. So that

must be how the IR camera looking at Mars

works. Yeah, they tell different

substances apart by how much heat they

give off or absorb. Everything looks the

same to us, but it sure doesn't look the

same to the IR camera. Let's keep looking

for the hot springs.

We were hoping the IR camera would help

us find underground water by showing us

unexplained temperature changes on the

surface. But everything got so hot that

we couldn't tell hot springs from hot

rocks. Man, we've been out this for

hours. I hope we find something soon.

TJ, get over here. Look, there's a pool

of water right there. Oh, right there?

Yes. I think we found it.

Water. Water.

So, we'll try to find signs of

underground water again, but next time,

we'll start out before the sun comes up.

You try, or... You know the real reason

why they're searching for hot springs on

Mars?It's to see the astronauts need to

relax.

Check out Mars. In the night sky near

you. Mars is like

a really cold desert. When you look at it

through a telescope, you can see ice

caps, which are made of carbon dioxide,

just like dry ice. And scientists believe

that there may be water under those caps

or buried underground. And if there's

water, then there may be signs of life.

Which is exactly what we're looking for

in today's riddle.

Okay, we're pretty sure there are no

aliens in our solar system, but what

about our galaxy?Or farther yet, one of

the other billions of galaxies. What if

E.T. is phoning us?

Which brings us to today's riddle.

How can you tell if aliens are trying to

send us messages?Joseph and Anthony are

hoping to make contact.

E.T. von Huh

The space aliens are trying to contact

the Earth, they're probably using radio

signals, because radio waves travel far

through space. I've never heard any alien

signals, and I listen to the radio all

the time. Keep this frequency clear. Keep

this frequency clear. There are lots of

places on the AM/FM dial, and even more

on the shortwave radio. Let's check it

out.

It's been hours and we've heard nothing.

Yeah, time for a snack.

Whoa, what was that?Turn the thing off.

That was again. Every time I hit the

remote, it makes the sound in the radio.

Well, great. Even if you find a signal,

you still got to figure out if the signal

is alien. How do you do that?

There's so many different signals. How

are we going to hear an alien message and

all that?HuhMichael,

slow down your flipping or we're not

going to hear them. You know, that's a

really good point. So how can we tell if

aliens are trying to send us messages?

Take your wildest guest now, and we'll

bring you the answer at the end of the

show. But now it's time to meet Megan,

Monica, Ginny, and Amelia at the Rocket

Command Center. Check it out.

Three, two, one, lift

off! We have the connection.

So maybe our rockets aren't that big. But

they're still cool. We went to

space camp over spring break. We designed

rockets and got info from NASA

scientists. Scientists send along probes

to other planets. The sensors on the

probes tell them about the planet's

surface and how equipment might react

there. I know you gonna dig this.

What would you guys want to know about

the environments on other planets?I want

to know if you could breathe. I want to

know whether it's hot or cold. Or like if

there's wind on other planets. Or how

fast it flows. We should test this stuff

out.

We have a shot! So we went

ahead and built our own rockets. And it's

time to put them to work. The vehicle's

now traveling at a speed of about 4,700

miles per hour.

One of our biggest challenges is the same

one that NASA has, adding sensors that

measure accurately but are light enough

for the rocket to fly high. Just don't

make your rocket too heavy. Houston, we

have a problem. We wanted to

check out temperature, wind speed, and

wind direction. But we all had different

ideas about what sensors would work. The

instruments we put on the rockets will

take readings when the rocket lands.

Amelia and I decided to put a regular

glass thermometer on our rocket. Megan

and Jenny decided to use an aquarium

thermometer because it's small and won't

weigh down the rocket. Amelia made

thin paper sensors to measure the wind

speed. The more they bend, the stronger

the wind. We had a clever idea to

measure wind direction. We can put

confetti in here, and whichever direction

the confetti goes, that's the way that

the wind's going.

Megan and Jenny made a little anemometer

to measure wind speed and a tiny wind

vane to measure direction. Finally,

both rockets were ready.

Well, there's only one thing left to do.

How's it going, girls?Good. Good

Three, two, one.

Now we can see how our sensors work.

The weather van, it's, like, wrong

because it might get caught in the

ground. You know, we should redesign it.

We should, like, put them on the top of

the fence. This isn't right because it

says 64, and it's, like, way below 64. We

need a thermometer with a wider range.

Thermometer says



right. The confetti is all over there.

It's scattered. The strips didn't really

work. This one didn't really move, but

this one bent down more.

We revised our sensors and prepared to

launch again. We put a tester here

and on the fin, and we rounded them to

see if the shape would make any

difference. Inside, we put a confetti bag

and its net. Hopefully, that will make

the confetti come out slower. You put the

wind speed and wind direction

on the fins instead of the body of the

rocket. Ending up here, it looks like it

graduated from rocket school.

If you don't succeed at first, try again.

We had a slight malfunction. The cap and

the motor are gone. That shouldn't have

come off like that.

The parachute didn't deploy because the

confetti bag was too big, and it plumped

the whole rocket up. So what should we do

next then?Let's make a smaller bag with

less confetti.

Hey, this worked. Well, that worked, but

this didn't. You know, if we were to put

it, like,here, right next to it, then it

will hit. Yeah, we could have at least,

like, one on every pin, 'cause then that

way, like, whatever way it lands, we

could still have it work. Having a backup

system would be a really good idea. If

I could send my rocket anywhere, I would

send it to Pluto. I would send my rocket

to Pluto also 'cause it's just way out

there, dude. My hand's an

alien.

What I don't get is how the scientists

get the information. We just walk over

and collect it, and they have to get it

from outer space. They'd probably need a

really powerful radio. But it'd

have to be small and tough.

Three, two, one!

So the girls found out with scientific

instruments, you have to try and try and

try and try and try again. And trial and

error is how NASA came up with the rovers

that they send to Mars. Here's a model of

the Sojourner rover. It can make its own

way over rocks and boulders and other

obstacles, but it moves really slow, like

a tortoise. It may be slow, but it has

superhuman senses. Check out this

spectrometer. It reads radiation and can

tell what rocks are made out of. And the

two cameras here have stereo vision and

can tell scientists how far away

something is. Then it uses this antenna

to communicate. to earth what it finds.

If you want to do your own space

explorations, there are contests and

clubs all over the country. That's how we

found the Rocket Girls and how we might

find you. But now let's check out some

mushers who are putting their sled dogs

to the test. I'm Janan. I'm

Alexa. And I'm Mariah. We're mushers.

We race sled dogs. We got on Dragonfly

TV. You can too. Surf on over to the

DFTV website. It's at PBS Online at

pbskids.org. Once you're there, click on

DragonflyAnd tell us what questions

you're investigating and what you found

out. You might find yourself on Dragonfly

TV.

Let's go. My

name is Ayana and I'm a robotics engineer

here at JPL. What that means is that I

make robots smarter.

My love of machines and engineering

really started when I was a kid. I

remember that I got two really cool gifts

one Christmas. One was an Easy Bake Oven

and then the other was an erector set.

And I would build with the erector set,

you know, all these creative things. And

then I would go off and bake my little

cake and eat it. It really showed me that

I could be creative and build things with

my hands, but then I could still, you

know, do kind of girly things. Now I

work with a robot called Smart Knife.

which one day we want to send to explore

the surface of Mars. Now, in order to do

this, I have to give it smart. I have to

give it the ability to make decisions,

like I would. I give it what you call

artificial intelligence. Artificial

intelligence is getting the robot to

think, act, and make decisions just like

people do. What I'm doing right now is

like you blindfolding yourself and having

a friend guide you through a set of

obstacles. Now I want you to take...

Three steps forward. In the same way, I'm

guiding the robot with the joystick. The

only difference is that I actually want

the robot to learn. I want it to be able

to make those same decisions on its own.

I can't talk to this robot like I would

talk to you. That's why I use something

called code. Code is the language of the

robot. It allows me to actually talk to

the robot in its own language. And I need

that in order to tell the robot how to

make decisions, how to act, and how to

think. So the

robot looks at the train in front of it

and determines whether it's clear. It

continues on until it sees an obstacle in

front of it. At that point, it has to

determine, do I go left or right?That's

the role of artificial intelligence. It

keeps the robot safe, but also allows the

robot to achieve its ultimate goal. See,

the robot is a part of me. The robot is

my smarts, my knowledge, basically how I

do things. And that's so cool because

it's like having a piece of me on Mars.

So Ayanna uses artificial intelligence in

her robotic design. So do all robots use

AI?

Definitely not. AI is kind of hard to

explain. It basically means recreating

the human thought process in computers or

machines. And there are some robots and

computers who can perform human problem

solving, but they're always designed for

a specific situation, like playing chess.

So C-3PO is a long way off. Well, you

never know. There are a lot of great

minds out there. In fact, a great mind

answered last week's do it. Accessing

coordinates. Come on.

Last week, we asked you to make your own

paper helicopter. And Ivan from Florida

used lightweight paper to make a whole

bunch of different sized helicopters. And

he found out that the bigger the

helicopter, the longer it flew. That's

because the air pressure pushes up on the

helicopter's wide blades and gives it a

longer flight time. How cool. That

created more resistance in the skinny

blades with just a slice of the air. OK,

don't feel bad if you missed out on

making a helicopter, because we're moving

on to this week's Do It. To have a can

contest, you'll need two different cans

of soup,a board, and some

books. Make a ramp out of the board,

lay the cans on their side, and let go.

Who will win the gold?The clam chowder or

the chicken noodle?Or maybe a canned

veggie?

We're looking for the fastest food cans

in the country. Or the cream of mushroom.

Beat the canned carrot. You may never

know, unless you tune in next week to

find out. And it only takes a few

minutes, so just do it and tell us what

you find out. And if the do went by too

fast, just check online for details. But

can we eat soup with a spoon in space?

Next up, Tiana and Sammy are testing the

limits of gravity.

I'm Sammy. I'm Tiana.

When Power Tower drops you, you feel 3

seconds of weightlessness. I felt like my

stomach was in my throat. Power Tower got

us thinking about weightlessness. Like

how astronauts put up with that stomach

drop feeling all the time. I wonder how

they handle everyday stuff. Once, I saw

this video where astronauts are trying to

eat, and they can't because their food's

floating all around. How would they sleep?

If you rolled over in bed, would you just

float away?We

wondered what life would be like without

gravity. But how do you figure that out

when you're stuck here on Earth?

We went online and found out that NASA

had a whole division for the study of how

objects behave in space. It's called

microgravity research. Microgravity

happens when an object free-falls. There

actually is gravity in space. It's just

reduced. Astronauts look weightless

because their shuttle is in orbit, which

is like a roller coaster free-fall on

Earth. NASA records the same

free-fall effects objects have in orbit

here on Earth. They drop stuff out of a

tall drop tower, and a camera inside the

box requires microgravity in action.

NASA's website had instructions on how we

could build our own drop tower to see how

different things behave in space. NASA

lent our science teacher one of their

kits. Being such a

small drop box, this is really heavy.

Statement #40. We will drop things from

about 16 feet, which will give us about

one second of microgravity. We

set up the drop box, the camera to go

inside the box, the computer to record

what the camera sees, and the landingpad.

Hmm, what do you think we should test?

Let's do.

Antacid tablets?Yeah, well,

maybe it might foam or something in

space. Well, let's try it.

Camera's working. Three, two,

one, bombs away.

Sweet. That was awesome. Do you see that?

Can't see the computer from here, Sammy.

Sweet, though. Ready?

Whoa, oh, my gosh. Oh, my God, that's so

neat. That was so cool. It's almost like

the bubbles paused right in the middle,

right in that stage of free fall.

Remember how you said it was gonna, like,

over-fizzle or whatever?Yeah. It just

stopped. That was cool. Wonder what it's

like for the astronauts out in space. You

know, like, would their body fluids,

like, slow down or something?That's

gross. What if, like, I opened a can of

pop in space?You think bubbles would--

Yeah, I know. That's That's really weird.

I don't know if there would be any

carbonation in space.

I think it's going to be pretty slow up

there, so he's going to keep walking.

Yeah, right, Shamie. I think he's going

to float. I mean, there's nothing holding

him down. Let's test it.

I don't think he made it. He's dead, Jim.

Did

you see that?No, I didn't see it. I mean,

the dinosaur didn't exactly have a force

to push it up, so it wasn't exactly

floating. Exactly. It wasn't floating.

OK, I guess I was wrong. It just shuffled

and it did not have any force behind it

to make it float. Maybe that's what it's

like up in space. Yeah, maybe it needed

just like a little push.

Oh, sweet, Sandy. This is like a swing.

It'd be so awesome to go on a swing in

space, 'cause you'd just keep flipping

forever. Yeah, that would. Sweet.

Let's do it!

Now that was a beauty.

Album's cool. Totally froze this side.

This is just 'cause there's no gravity to

bring back down. That's pretty neat. What

if you dropped it off like a high

building or something like that?Yeah,

like a higher structure. This one's from





around?Yeah. Because, you know, there's

no gravity forcing it down. Let's put a

swing on the space station. You must be

daft. So things really do act differently

in microgravity. You don't just start

floating. Bubbles stop rising.

And pendulums don't fling back down.

We should send our results to NASA. They

learn all sorts of cool stuff with their

experiments. Like what?Um,

cures for diseases, better fuel

efficiency. The answers are out of this

world. There's no

need to hitch a ride on the next space

shuttle to experience microgravity. You

can test it right here on Earth. Right

here?Yep. And you get to demonstrate. So

lucky. Every time Mario's feet leave the

trampoline, well, she's weightless. It is

microgravity. And for a taste of that

free-falling feeling, you can experience

it on swings, diving boards, or basically

any time you're catching some air.

Weightless, not weightless, not

weightless! So easily entertained. So now

back to our alien riddle. How do you tell

if aliens are trying to send us messages?

First, we collect signals from outer

space using giant radio telescopes. We

use the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico

to listen to signals from nearby

galaxies. It's the world's largest radio

telescope. You could fit 17 football

fields into the dish. The

next step is signal processing, searching

through all that space data and the

signals that get mixed in from electronic

devices here on Earth. To get it done, we

tap into millions of home computers. It's

called SETI at home. SETI means Search

for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Data from the telescope is sent to your

home PC. When you're not using your

computer, the screen saver searches for

interesting signals like this one.

Unusual signals are flagged and sent back

to SETI researchers for further study. If

ET is out there and calling us, this is

how we'll know.

SETI is using optical signals as another

way to monitor space. SETI looks for

flashing lights or laser signals that

might be sent to us from other worlds.

And we're looking for your signals too,

so make sure you're sending us your ideas

and investigations. Write us and tell us

about 'em. 'Cause if you don't, who

will?To find out more about Dragonfly

TV, head to PBS Online at

pbskids.org. We want to hear from you.

Hi, I'm Tony Hawk. See what's coming up

this season on Dragonfly TV. Just

imagine the tricks I could do in space.

Can dogs see color just like people?

Coming up soon on Dragonfly TV.

Whoa. You see, Michael, did you know

astronauts can't eat bread?Really. Yep.

Because crumbs can float up their noses.

Oh, that can't be right. So right. So we

eat tortillas instead. See. No crumbs.

Yeah. I wonder if there's any Astro pizza

delivery. I'll stop thinking about food

all the time. Me. Food, food, food.

See you next time on Dragon Food TV.

Major funding for Dragonfly TV is

provided by the Best Buy Children's

Foundation. We're excited to see kids

like you exploring the world of science

and technology because what you're

learning is going to change the way we

live. Best Buy the future looks fun

and by the National Science Foundation.

supporting education and research in

science, mathematics, and technology.

The National Science Foundation,

America's investment in the future.