Kind: captions
Language: en
the coronavirus pandemic may have been
the biggest science story of 2020
but it wasn't the only story there were
also
some major space stories this year earth
is the only confirmed planet in our
solar system that has life
but venus may have something to say
about that in september
scientists announced they had detected
phosphine in venus's atmosphere
on earth phosphine is known as a
byproduct of life
including microbes it's found in
oxygen-free environments
such as wetlands and swamps and sludges
it's associated with feces
so we know for sure that phosphine is
associated with life here on earth
some life forms that don't require
oxygen actually produce
phosphate leading scientists to
speculate that some sort of life form in
the clouds of venus
could be responsible for the phosphine
several studies came out
questioning some of the observations the
researchers re-analyzed part of their
original data
and found a processing error they
confirmed finding phosphine
but it's a much fainter signal i'm
extremely excited that we did this on
venus next door
where we actually can go and check so
when we get to that point
let's go look unfortunately the world of
astronomy was also hit with some
devastating news
the aracebo observatory in puerto rico
which was the largest
radio telescope on the planet upon its
completion in 1963
collapsed after almost 60 years of
scientific research
back in august an auxiliary cable
slipped from its socket
and left a 100 foot gash in the dish no
one was hurt but all observations were
put on hold while engineers assessed the
situation
in early november one of the main cables
that supported the platform
snapped about a week later the national
science foundation
announced arecibo would be
decommissioned and torn down
but the platform collapsed in early
december
that was devastating for for me at the
moment
so it was really hard this is a very big
plus
for the science community in the world
but the bigger loss
for everybody here in puerto rico in
terms of education
we have the separator right here people
go over there
kids go over there and learn from the
servator get inspired
the arasyuba observatory was the most
powerful astronomical radar on earth
some of our sibo's notable discoveries
include the first ever binary pulsar
the first exoplanet the first ever radar
maps of venus's surface
and finding that mercury's rotation
takes 59 days
not the previously estimated 88 days so
the last
impact a broad spectrum of scientific
research i sincerely hope
that we will be able to rebuild but
it will mean now that we have to wait
rsibo's long research history has
provided researchers with
invaluable information including about
bennu
an asteroid at the heart of a recent
exploration that can teach us more about
our solar system's formation
in october the spacecraft osiris-rex did
something extraordinary
it touched venue's surface in an attempt
to collect a sample
and bring it back to earth i'm in awe
really
everything went phenomenally well i mean
i can't believe we actually pulled this
off
it was a good day bennu is more than 200
million miles from earth
which means osiris-rex had to collect a
sample
all on its own without a human at the
controls
we literally expected this asteroid to
look like a beach
that is not what bennu looked like at
all it's just rocks
everywhere oh my gosh those big boulders
were just not what we were expecting to
find
the team analyzed thousands of photos to
identify a place to touch down
on october 20th 2020 osiris-rex
successfully collected a sample from a
site only 26 feet wide
the size of a few parking spaces why go
through all this trouble
turns out that asteroids can help
researchers get a clearer picture of our
solar system's origins
asteroids actually are remnants left
over
from the earliest periods in the history
of our solar system
they essentially have locked up inside
them
many of the secrets of what the solar
system was like when it first began
they're little time capsules that record
what kinds of chemistry was
present the spacecraft will attempt to
bring its precious cargo back to earth
dropping a capsule in the utah desert in
in 2021 the exploration continues
nasa's perseverance rover will land on
mars
nasa will also launch dart the double
asteroid redirection test
designed to test a technique for
preventing potentially hazardous
asteroids from impacting earth
and the long-awaited james webb space
telescope an orbiting infrared
observatory that will study the origins
and formation of our universe
and will hunt for traces of life in the
atmospheres of exoplanets
we need to keep exploring it really goes
a long way
into understanding who we are how we got
here
and what our long-term prospects are on
this planet
you