IF ANTARCTICA IS "THE LAST CONTINENT", THAT MAKES THE SOUTH POLE-90 DEGREES SOUTH LATITUDE-THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH.
BUT ANTARCTICA AND THE POLE ARE AMONG THE BEST SITES ON EARTH TO EXPLORE OUR PLACE IN THE COSMOS.
CHAPTER HEAD TITLE: "Spaceship South Pole"
IN THIS VIDEO, WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE AND WORK AT "SPACESHIP" SOUTH POLE...
TITLE: "Astronomy@90 degrees S"
WHAT WE CAN DISCOVER WHEN WE DO... "ASTRONOMY AT 90 DEGREES SOUTH LATITUDE"
TITLE: "The Antarctic Search for Meteorites"
AND HOW AND WHY ANTARCTICA IS A GREAT PLACE TO FIND METEORITES FROM THE OUTER REACHES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM...
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MAIN TITLES with music and program title
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THE POLE IS ABOUT 730 NAUTICAL MILE SOUTH OF McMURDO STATION-BUT IT'S A WORLD APART.
TITLE: "Spaceship South Pole"
YOU LEAVE THE COAST... AND THE BARE-ROCK MOUNTAINS... BEHIND, AND SOON IT'S ONLY ICE... AND MORE ICE, HUNDREDS OF MILES OF ICE, SOME TWO MILES DEEP.
YOU CATCH YOUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE SOUTH POLE STATION.
THEN YOU APPROACH, AND SLIDE-ON THE C130'S HUGE, HISSING SKIES-TO A HALT.
THE CREW KEEPS THE ENGINES RUNNING SO THEY'LL BE WARM TO TAKE OFF ONCE AGAIN!
YOUR WELCOME TO THE POLE IS WARM-BUT STATION STAFF CAREFULLY RUN THROUGH THE RULES THAT ARE MEANT TO KEEP YOU, AND THE REST OF THE SMALL SOUTH POLE COMMUNITY, SAFE AND SOUND.
NAME TITLE: Dave Fischer, ASA/South Pole Station Manager
You should expect altitude sickness while you're here, and that could be a few hours... it could be a few days.
YOUR BODY FEELS THE ALTITUDE AND THE DRYNESS. YOU HAVE TO DRINK PINTS AND PINTS OF WATER EACH DAY...
AT MOST 200 PEOPLE CAN LIVE AT SOUTH POLE STATION IN THE ANTARCTIC SUMMER. DURING THE WINTER, THE POPULATION SHRINKS TO LESS THAN 30.
THIS SHINY BALL IS THE CEREMONIAL SOUTH POLE, SURROUNDED BY THE FLAGS OF THE ORIGINAL SIGNATORY NATIONS OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY WHICH GUARANTEES THIS CONTINENT WILL BE USED ONLY FOR PEACEFUL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.
CLOSE BY IS THIS YEAR'S GEOGRAPHIC SOUTH POLE, MARKING EXACTLY 90 DEGREES SOUTH LATITUDE.
TRAILING AWAY BEHIND IT ARE THE MARKERS FOR THE POLES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS, REMINDING YOU THAT THE ICE SHEET IS SLIPPING TEN METERS A YEAR OVER THE UNDERLYING SURFACE!
AND THERE'S A 3RD SOUTH POLE... BUT YOU WON'T FIND IT BY WALKING AROUND THIS STATION.
EARTH'S MAGNETIC SOUTH POLE IS NEARLY 3,000 KILOMETERS AWAY, OFF THE COAST, TRAVELING AT 5.5 KM A YEAR BECAUSE OF THE MOTIONS OF EARTH'S METALLIC CORE!
UNDER THE GEODESIC DOME YOU FIND THE HEART OF SOUTH POLE STATION-THE GALLEY.
HERE FINE FOOD-LOTS OF IT-AND, OF COURSE, LOTS OF FLUIDS ARE SERVED UP EVERY DAY TO NOURISH BODY AND SOUL.
THEN THERE ARE THE COMPUTER LABS, USED FOR RESEARCH, AND FOR E-MAIL.
Radio operator:
Siple Dome, South Pole, did you copy...?
THERE'S A BUSY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER, CONNECTED TO THE OTHER TWO U.S. BASES BY HIGH FREQUENCY RADIO, AND TO THE REST OF THE WORLD BY SATELLITE.
HERE TOO ARE NUMEROUS RECYCLING BINS: EVERYTHING MUST BE FLOWN OUT...
IF YOU'RE A SUMMER VISITOR-ANTARCTIC SUMMER, THAT IS-YOU'LL SLEEP IN JAMESWAY HUTS, VETERANS OF THE KOREAN WAR... CANVAS STRETCHED OVER WOOD AND METAL FRAMES.
CLOSE BY SUMMER CAMP, YOU CAN SEE THE FUTURE IN THE FANCY, HIGH-TECH DORMS ON STILTS-DESIGNED TO TOWER OVER THE DRIFTING SNOW THAT IS GRADUALLY INFILTRATING THE 30-YEAR OLD DOME.
AS WE'LL SEE, THE POLE IS BUSY-YEAR ROUND WITH RESEARCH...
(Volleybag players shout.)
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THERE'S NO TIME FOR FUN.
"VOLLEY-BAG" IS PLAYED, INSTEAD OF VOLLEY-BALL. THE COURT'S TOO SMALL FOR THE STATE-SIDE VARIANT.
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY THERE'S THE ANNUAL ROUND-THE-POLE RACE.
AND SINCE YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND THE POLE, YOU'RE ALSO RUNNING ROUND THE WORLD! NO WONDER THE WINNER DESERVES A ROUSING CHEER!!!
chapterhead title: ASTRONOMY AT 90 degrees S
SO THAT'S A LITTLE ABOUT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE AT THE SOUTH POLE... BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RESEARCH THAT'S DONE HERE?
AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, AT THE VERY END OF THE EARTH, IS AN IDEAL PLACE TO LOOK BEYOND OUR PLANET, OUT INTO THE UNIVERSE, TO EXPLORE GALAXIES... AND CLUES TO THE BIG BANG AND HOW EVERYTHING BEGAN.
title: ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
AS THESE OBJECTS ARE BORN, EVOLVE AND DIE, THEY EMIT RADIATION OF DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS. WE CALL THIS THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM.
DOWN HERE ON EARTH WE SEE ONLY THE VISIBLE PORTION OF THE SPECTRUM.
titles: ULTRAVIOLET
titles: INFRARED
BEYOND WHAT WE CAN SEE WITH OUR UNAIDED EYES AND WITH OPTICAL TELESCOPES THERE ARE HIGHER AND LOWER ENERGIES, SUCH AS ULTRAVIOLET AND INFRARED.
SCIENTISTS WANT TO USE THESE REGIONS OF THE SPECTRUM TO STUDY DISTANT STARS AND GALAXIES.
BUT THE ATMOSPHERE THAT SHIELDS ALL LIFE ON EARTH FROM THE SUN'S INTENSE RADIATION ALSO INTERFERES WITH ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.
AND THE ATMOSPHERE IS SO FULL OF WATER VAPOR THAT, TO THE ASTRONOMER, IT'S LIKE LIVING UNDER A VERITABLE "OCEAN OF AIR."
NASA, THE SPACE AGENCY, CAN CLIMB ABOVE THAT BARRIER WITH GREAT OBSERVATORIES LIKE THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE.
BUT IT'S CHEAPER, EASIER AND FASTER TO DO SOME KINDS OF ASTRONOMY AT THE SOUTH POLE.
HERE, DESPITE ALL THE ICE, IT'S AS DRY AS A DESERT.
THERE'S LESS THAN 4 (FOUR) MILLIMETERS OF PRECIPITATION A MONTH, SO THE ATMOSPHERE'S NOT SATURATED WITH WATER VAPOR.
THEN, IF YOU WANT TO STUDY THE SUN... THERE'S 6 CONTINUOUS MONTHS OF DAYLIGHT!
AND IF YOU NEED DARKNESS, THERE'S 6 MONTHS OF NIGHT.
THESE CONDITIONS ARE WHY INCREASING NUMBERS OF ASTRONOMERS COME TO THE POLE.
THE HARD WORK OF BUILDING A NEW SOUTH POLE STATION TO REPLACE THE NOW NEARLY 30 YEAR OLD CURRENT STRUCTURE HAS BEGUN, AND IT'S LIKELY THAT ASTRONOMY WILL INCREASINGLY DOMINATE THE RESEARCH DONE HERE.
STAY TUNED VIA THE INTERNET FOR ALL THE LATEST ON ASTRONOMY AT 90 DEGREES SOUTH!!!
IN 1996 NASA STUNNED THE WORLD WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT ITS RESEARCHERS BELIEVED THEY MIGHT HAVE FOUND ANCIENT FOSSIL MICROBES IN A METEORITE FROM THE PLANET MARS.
HALF A DECADE LATER, SCIENTISTS ARE STILL DEBATING JUST WHAT THESE STRANGE, SMALL SHAPES REALLY ARE.
BUT NO ONE DOUBTS THIS METEORITE, "ALH84001", CAME FROM MARS...
AND IT WAS FOUND HERE, IN ANTARCTICA.
"ALH" STANDS FOR THE ALLAN HILLS.
CHAPTER HEAD TITLE: The Antarctic Search for Meteorites
LET'S SEE WHY THIS CONTINENT IS THE PRE-EMINENT PLACE ON EARTH TO LOOK FOR THESE ROCKS FROM SPACE...
chapter head title: The Antarctic Search for Meteorites
FOR RALPH HARVEY AND HIS TEAM OF METEORITE HUNTERS, THE EXPEDITION STARTS HERE, IN McMURDO STATION.
FIRST YOU CHECK OUT THE SLEDS THAT WILL CARRY ALL YOUR FOOD... AND TENTS... AND OTHER ESSENTIALS.
RALPH'S RIGHT HAND MAN IS FIELD GUIDE JOHN SCHUTT. OVER THE YEARS HE'S HELPED FIND MORE THAN 6,000 METEORITES.
BUT STILL MORE IMPORTANT, HIS JOB IS NOT TO LOSE A RESEARCHER DOWN A CREVASSE!
BEFORE YOU DEPLOY IN THE FIELD, YOU LEARN TO RIDE IN A SKIDOO CONVOY, AND THE HAND SIGNALS TO MAKE IT YOU'RE LUCKY AND FIND A METEORITE.
YOUR FIELD CAMP IS SO REMOTE THAT YOU'LL BE "PUT IN", AS THE VETERANS SAY, BY SKI-EQUIPPED LC-130 TURBOPROP.
THE PILOTS ALSO RELY ON JOHN'S EXPERIENCE TO ENSURE THEY DON'T LOSE A PLANE DOWN A CREVASSE!
name title: John Schutt, Field Safety Officer, ANSMET
John Schutt:
Up here we're up on a sort of an escarpment and there are thick crevasse fields all along this top edge...
YOU CHECK THE MAPS, RECONNAISSANCE PHOTOS, THE HISTORY OF WHAT THE LANDING SITE HAS BEEN LIKE IN PREVIOUS YEARS...
OPERATING A PLANE THAT'S PROBABLY OLDER THAN ITS CREW OF VETERAN PILOTS MEANS YOU CHECK, AND DOUBLE-CHECK.
AND THEN, TIME TO GO...
(plane takes off)
FLYING OVER THE ICE, YOU RELY ON JOHN'S SKILLED EYES ALONG WITH THE MAPS AND AERIALS PHOTOS.
NOW YOU'RE GETTING CLOSE.
TO TEST YOUR POSSIBLE LANDING SITE YOU DO A "SKI-DRAG".
YOU TOUCH DOWN, UNDER POWER, SO THAT IF THERE'S A PROBLEM YOU STILL HAVE ENOUGH SPEED TO TAKE OFF ONCE AGAIN.
IT'S LIKE SLEDDING OVER SPEED BUMPS AT MORE THAN A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR...
IF NO CREVASSES APPEAR, YOU TAKE OFF, GO AROUND, THEN LAND FOR REAL.
(wind howls)
BUT IF THAT WAS "EXCITING", THEN YOU EMERGE INTO AN ICY, WINDSWEPT DESERT, WITH NO SHELTER FOR MILES AROUND.
TASK ONE-GET THE TENTS UP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE FOR SHELTER.
TASK TWO-OFF-LOAD THE REST OF THE EQUIPMENT FROM A SECOND FLIGHT.
TASK THREE-EAT, REST AND GET READY FOR THE NEXT DAY.
DAY 2 DAWNS COLD AND BRIGHT-MUCH LESS WIND. JUST RIGHT TO GO HUNT METEORITES!
BUT FIRST YOU HAVE TO DO A 40 MILE TRAVERSE BY SKIDOO AND SLED, CARRYING ALL YOUR SUPPLIES WITH YOU.
THEN YOU ARRIVE AT WHAT SEEMS LIKE THE BEST PLACE TO MAKE YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN THE MIDDLE OF A VAST EXPANSE OF BLUE ICE: YOU NAME IT-"METEORITE CITY."
NEXT DAY, YOU'RE UP EARLY, AND BEGIN THE SEARCH FOR REAL...
NAME TITLE: Ralph Harvey, Case Western Reserve, ANSMET
One of the things that I see happening a lot is somebody starts to daydream a little bit, and they let a lot of space get in front of them. And then all of the sudden they start out, "God, I'm falling behind." So they zoom ahead and they end up flipping a sled and then they drag it on its side for half an hour...
EYES PEELED FOR CREVASSES AND METEORITES, IT'S LINE ABREAST... METHODICALLY SEARCHING A PATCH OF BLUE ICE THAT'S PRIME TERRITORY FOR METEORITES.
AND THERE ARE SOUND, SCIENTIFIC REASONS RELATING TO WIND, ICE MOVEMENT AND THE CHARACTER OF THIS CONTINENT FOR WHY YOU FIND SO MANY METEORITES HERE.
Ralph Harvey:
What you're really looking at is a very, very old surface. And any meteorites that might have been caught throughout the East Antarctic ice sheet, and brought into this area by the movement of the glaciers, may end up stuck here. As the ice and snow literally blows away, or evaporates away, sublimes, the meteorites can't do either of those things so they start to pile up. And as a result, even the most unusual thing that you might not recognize if it fell in your back yard, we can see here as a meteorite. Any rock we find on this ice had to fall from the sky.
SUCCESS!
OK, IT'S SMALL, BUT ITS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION PROVES THIS LITTLE CHUNK OF ROCK CAME ALL THE WAY FROM THE MOON, OR MARS OR SOME PLACE ELSE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
TO MAKE SURE THE RESEARCHERS, BACK HOME IN THE STATES, KNOW JUST WHAT THEY'RE GETTING, YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL ABOUT HOW YOU HANDLE THESE RARE AND VALUABLE SPECIMENS.
FOR RALPH AND HIS TEAM THERE'S REALLY NOWHERE ELSE THEY'D RATHER BE.
Ralph:
When I was growing up, I pretty much thought I'd be "Mr. Science-Fiction" out exploring other planets and in some ways I look back at those desires to go to another planet and walk around and be other worldly, and heck, look around me, you know. I really am. I can't think of any place on this planet any stranger.
NEXT DAY, THE ROUTINE IS THE SAME... BUT WHAT YOU FIND IS DIFFERENT. ALL IN ALL, RALPH'S GROUP HAS GOTTEN VERY LUCKY.
THIS IS LAURIE LESHIN'S FIRST TIME OUT HERE IN THE FIELD... AND DESPITE THE HARDSHIPS SHE'S HEARD ABOUT AND PREPARED FOR, THIS HAS BEEN A PRETTY GOOD DAY!
name title: Laurie Leshin, Arizona State University
Laurie:
Finding my first meteorite today was really a thrill and especially because it looks like it's kind of an odd one. So that's always a fun thing. It's just everywhere you look, expanses of ice and nothingness and you'll be driving along and all of the sudden here's this little black thing on the ice and it's a meteorite. I mean, to me, that's just phenomenal.
Ralph:
A lot of these people are what the rest of the world would call a "geek," but geeks are great for hanging out in a tent for a week. Driving around monotonously looking, oh yet another meteorite on this unchanging landscape.
If you get a thrill out of finding something that no one's ever seen, you're going to have a good time doing this. You're going to be successful no matter what the climate is like, no matter what the weather is like.
GUY CONSULMAGNO IS A JESUIT BROTHER, WORKING AT THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY. HE FINDS THIS CUTTING EDGE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH REINFORCES HIS AWE AT GOD'S CREATION...
name title: Guy Consulmagno, Vatican Observatory
The beauty of the place reminds me an awful lot of the beauty of the ocean. And it really makes me feel at home. On the other hand, it also makes me feel like I'm on an alien planet. One of the weird things that's come out of the Martian meteorite thing, the idea that maybe there's life on another planet, is to make me realize that Mars is not alien any more than Earth is, any more than Antarctica is. We're all part of the same Universe and there's nothing more alien about one place than another.
NEARLY EVERY VISITOR TO ANTARCTICA IS TOUCHED IN SOME WAY BY WHAT THEY SEE HERE.
BUT PERHAPS THOSE WHO COME TO THE END OF THE EARTH TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT OUR PLACE IN THE COSMOS THINK THE BIGGEST THOUGHTS.
FOR THEM, THIS "LABORATORY ON THE ICE" IS A TIME AND SPACE MACHINE, ALLOWING THEM TO SEE FARTHER THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET...
