Where is everyone? We have been listening for messages from outer space for more than half a century, and so far... silence, why? Are we truly alone in the universe? Or is everyone else acting like us and just doing a lot of listening? Maybe we need to be louder. Maybe we need to send more messages out there. But how do you write a letter to an extraterrestrial whose language and culture and biology and mind we have no concept of? And what do you say? Given all of the unknowns about what they might behave, should we say anything at all?
Now in HD and with a new 3D version. In May 2009, NASA astronauts embark on a mission to perform maintenance and repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. As they go about their tasks, danger and beauty are never far away. The nature of space indicates that even the simplest routine can go fatally awry, while amazing photographs taken by the telescope celebrate the wonder of Earth's celestial surroundings. An IMAX 3D camera chronicled the effort of 7 astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its launch, this film tells the remarkable story of how the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the awe and wonder of our universe and how a team of daring astronauts risked their lives to keep it working. Additionally, a team led by Greg Bacon and Dr Frank Summers has transformed many of Hubble's most awe-inspiring images into visualisations - from the spectacular Orion Nebula to the fabulous Whirlpool Galaxy and ethereal Horsehead Nebula. One of the most mind-blowing of the visualizations takes the viewer on a remarkable journey, flying across the Universe to witness almost 13 billion years of cosmic evolution. It's called the 'Hubble Ultra Deep Field' and was created when Hubble stared at a small patch of sky for the equivalent of more than 11 days to see some of the most distant galaxies ever observed.
NASA's brand-new Mars rover is on the hunt for alien life, and with the help of cutting-edge engineering, scientists embark on a search for fossilized remains, which might prove the Red Planet was once home to a vast ocean and extraterrestrial life. Perseverance carries seven scientific instruments to study the Martian surface at Jezero crater. It carries several cameras and two microphones. The rover is accompanied by the helicopter Ingenuity, which will help Perseverance to scout for locations to study.
Recently, the Event Horizon Telescope project captured the first image ever of a black hole. Now, new discoveries might finally reveal how supermassive black holes are made, and using the latest technology, experts are on the verge of understanding how these monsters grow and how they affect life on our planet. Supermassive black holes: Gargantuan monsters that lurk at the center of galaxies. Right now you are travelling at half a million miles an hour around a giant black hole four million times the mass of the sun. But there's a mystery about these colossal beasts. We have no idea where they came from. How did they get so big so quickly?
Meet Perseverance, NASA's latest rover, as it heads to Mars to answer one question: did life exist on the red planet? On the way, it will lay the foundation for human exploration of our closest neighbour. Today, Mars is hostile to life. It's too cold for water to stay liquid on the surface, and the thin atmosphere lets through high levels of radiation, potentially sterilizing the upper part of the soil. But it wasn't always like this. Some 3.5 billion years ago or more, water was flowing on the surface. It carved channels still visible today and pooled in impact craters. A thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere would have blocked more of the harmful radiation. The Mars 2020/Perseverance rover is designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life. The mission will collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. It will also test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars, as the Ingenuity Helicopter.
Given all of the unknowns about what they might behave, should we say anything at all?