Space Exploration

The Milky Way TVPUK

Packing for Mars

52m 50s

National space agencies, scientists and private businesses are competing to find pioneering ways to be part of the adventure to Mars, and are investing colossal sums of money to achieve their goal. Competition is fierce and sometimes cut-throat. They all have their sights set on finding the solutions to the problems raised by what is billed as the greatest expedition of all time. This documentary film presents the most influential scientists, engineers and adventurers in space exploration today.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 1

25m 00s

The Launchers - The first step in leaving the Earth’s surface must be made via the huge power and precision control of a rocket. It’s expensive to reach space but new technology is bringing the cost down. This episode examines the range of launchers available today.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 2

26m 00s

Mars is our nearest planetary neighbour and its environment resembles own more closely than any other member of our planetary family. Robotic probes have revealed that water once flowed on the surface. This episode follows the quest to find traces of life on Mars.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 3

25m 52s

Saturn and its disc of rings has become more bewildering the more closely we are able to observe it. The dynamic system of moons, moonlets and orbiting dust are drawing scientific attention. This episode looks at the Saturnian system, its unique moons and the probes that have began penetrating this planetary mystery.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 4

25m 39s

The International Space Station - Since the 1970 the space powers have been sending to orbit craft in which people could live and work for extended periods, but the expense and complexity has been daunting. This episode focuses on the international collaboration required to maintain a permanently crewed laboratory orbiting the Earth.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 5

25m 42s

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system but it’s only recently that we’ve been able to get a glimpse into the intricacies of this giant and the fascinating moons that orbit it. This episode looks at what we know about Jupiter and how we know it.

Zenith - Advances in Space Exploration Series 1, Episode 6

26m 09s

Spacesuits - Space is a hostile environment. For humans to live and work beyond the atmosphere requires a sophisticated suite of technology. This episode looks at the health effects of space on the human body and the techniques used to allow people to function in the micro-gravity vacuum.

Space Robot Revolution

52m 27s

Robotics is everywhere, and humans have already been working closely with robots, if not replaced by them. But today, robots are clearly key actors in the future conquest of the space. While some androids have already been sent into space, other finer prototypes will soon join or replace them.

Ariane 5, a French Challenge

55m 58s

Each launch of the Ariane 5 rocket is a high-risk adventure and a 500 million euro bet. The concentration is maximum because each step is essential and follows a very precise chronology. Around Ariane 5, the launcher of the European Space Agency (ESA), a whole world reveals itself: armed forces on the ground and in the air, an industrial network of 550 companies in 12 European countries, buried bunkers and secrets to which few people have access.

Moon Wars

52m 28s

50 years after man’s first step on the moon in 1969, the earth’s satellite is today – more than ever – at the core of geopolitical and economic stakes. The stepping stone to any mission to Mars, the Moon has also become a new source of energy and resources. Despite International treaties stating it cannot be appropriated by any state or company, the Americans, Russians, Chinese, Koreans and Indians are already making plans for the Moon, alongside companies privately funded by billionaires.

A place in space

53m 15s

Neil Armstong in 1969 was the first and, Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, was the last man to leave his footprints on the moon in 1972. He believed “Man would be on his way to Mars by the turn of the century…” Instead, 40 years later, it is “Curiosity” and “Opportunity”, two robots, who are roaming the surface of Mars today.What happened to the astronauts’ dream to return to the moon, set foot on Mars and go further still?

The Race to The Red planet - Episode 1

45m 56s

Drawing on high quality animation, interviews with US, German and Russian engineers we describe the tools being built to get to Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency are collaborating on two Mars missions, using an Atlas rocket to propel a lander to the red planet and then a rover, ultimately to remotely control a return mission bringing soil sample back to Earth, by 2026.

The Race to The Red planet - Episode 2

45m 46s

The human factor in the Mars project is the most difficult aspect of the plan. There are three main problems with sending humans to Mars. One is the psychological impact of detention for 18 months. The second is physiological - to feed the human body for a year and a half only with dried food. The third is contamination: humans carry billions of germs that could contaminate returned samples and / or contaminate the Martian biosphere.

The Race to The Red planet - Episode 3

44m 00s

This episode looks at what we know about Mars, from the water (ice) concentrations, to the methane gas, to the ferrous earth and goes into the reason why Man might be interested in the planet at all as a possible colony supplying natural resources back to Earth. Interviewees include scientists and engineers plus the astronauts training for the Mars Mission – a mission that will have physical demands far beyond their own careers as astronauts.

Space Colonies - Part 1 : Asteroids

52m 43s

It’s possible that in the near future the Earth could become uninhabitable due to climate change or overpopulation. In addition, natural resources might become more and more scarce, and humankind could be forced to search for them somewhere else. It would be even possible for an asteroid impact to cause a planetary catastrophe. As a result, we may need to move to an orbital space colony or to another planet like the Moon or Mars, and create a new home in alternate, distant space colonies.

Space Colonies - Part 2 : The Moon

52m 32s

The moon’s proximity to earth, as well as the discovery of water there, have placed this natural satellite front and center as a viable location for our first interstellar colony. In fact, the director of the European Space Agency has already outlined their plans for a “moon village”, intended not only for scientific and technological research, but also for activities based on exploiting resources and even tourism.

Space Colonies - Part 3 : Mars

53m 03s