NOVA S49E10 · Ultimate Space Telescope

Overview

How did NASA engineers build and launch the most ambitious telescope of all time? Follow the dramatic story of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most complex machine ever launched into space. If it works, scientists believe that this new eye on the universe will peer deeper back in time and space than ever before to the birth of galaxies, and may even be able to “sniff” the atmospheres of exoplanets as we search for signs of life beyond Earth. But getting it to work is no easy task. The telescope is far bigger than its predecessor, the famous Hubble Space Telescope, and it needs to make its observations a million miles away from Earth—so there will be no chance to go out and fix it. That means there’s no room for error; the most ambitious telescope ever built needs to work perfectly. Meet the engineers making it happen and join them on their high stakes journey to uncover new secrets of the universe.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. Arctic Sinkholes2022-02-02 · 55mIn the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.
2. 2 2. Secrets in the Scat2022-02-09 · 55mScott Burnett is “Scatman”—an Australian ecologist on the trail of the secrets of poop. By identifying and analyzing animal scat for DNA and hormones, he discovers essential detail
3. 3 3. Great Mammoth Mystery2022-02-16 · 55mSir David Attenborough investigates a unique site in southern England where amateur fossil hunters uncovered giant mammoth bones and evidence of Neanderthals. A team of paleontolog
4. 4 4. Augmented2022-02-23 · 55mFollow the dramatic personal journey of Hugh Herr, a biophysicist working to create brain-controlled robotic limbs. At age 17, Herr’s legs were amputated after a climbing accident.
5. 5 5. Determined: Fighting Alzheimer's2022-04-06 · 55mFollow three women at risk of developing Alzheimer’s as they join a groundbreaking study to try to prevent the disease – sharing their ups and downs, anxiously watching for symptom
6. 6 6. Dinosaur Apocalypse: The New Evidence2022-05-11 · 55mIn the Badlands of North Dakota, a team of scientists think they might have found the fossilized remains of animals killed on the day an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago.
7. 7 7. Dinosaur Apocalypse: The Last Day2022-05-11 · 54mIn the second episode of this two-part series, the search continues for signs of what happened on the day the dinosaurs died. Scientists uncover extremely rare fossils and more evi
8. 8 8. Why Ships Crash2022-05-18 · 54mWhen the bow of the colossal Ever Given container ship plowed into the bank of the Suez Canal on March 23, 2021, international supply chains ground to a halt. What went wrong? Foll
9. 9 9. Ice Age Footprints2022-05-25 · 54mThousands of ancient footprints stretch for miles across New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, capturing moments when Ice Age humans encountered now-extinct beasts, including mam
10. 10 10. Ultimate Space Telescope2022-07-13 · 54mHow did NASA engineers build and launch the most ambitious telescope of all time? Follow the dramatic story of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most complex machine ever launched
11. 11 11. Saving Venice2022-09-28 · 54mRising seas and sinking land threaten to destroy Venice. Can the city’s new hi-tech flood barrier save it? Discover the innovative projects and feats of engineering designed to sto
12. 12 12. Ending HIV in America2022-10-05 · 54mAlmost 40 years after the discovery of HIV, could we be on the verge of ending the AIDS epidemic in America? How did scientists tackle one of the most elusive deadly viruses to eve
13. 13 13. Computers v. Crime2022-10-12 · 54mIn police departments and courts across the country, artificial intelligence is being used to help decide who is policed, who gets bail, how offenders should be sentenced, and who
14. 14 14. Can Psychedelics Cure?2022-10-19 · 54mHallucinogenic drugs—popularly called psychedelics—have been used by human societies for thousands of years. Today, scientists are taking a second look at many of these mind-alteri
15. 15 15. Ocean Invaders2022-10-26 · 54mLionfish–long prized in home aquariums–have invaded the Atlantic, and are now one of the ocean’s most successful invasive species, wreaking havoc in waters across the globe. Join o
16. 16 16. Nazca Desert Mystery2022-11-02 · 54mOne of the world’s greatest ancient enigmas, the Nazca lines are a dense network of criss-crossing lines, geometric shapes, and animal figures etched across 200 square miles of Per
17. 17 17. Crypto Decoded2022-11-09 · 53mFrom Bitcoin to NFTs, crypto is making headlines. But what exactly is it, and how does it work? Experts go beyond the hype and skepticism to unravel the social and technological un
18. 18 18. Zero to Infinity2022-11-16 · 54mDiscover how the concepts of zero and infinity revolutionized mathematics.
19. 19 19. Rebuilding Notre Dame2022-12-14 · 54mIn April 2019, the world watched as a devastating fire almost destroyed Paris’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral. Go behind the scenes with a team of engineers, masons, and timber worke