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>> Hello and welcome to NASA
science live.
An opportunity to come behind
the scenes and get to know your
space agency.
I'm your host, Sophia Roberts.
This show gives you an
opportunity to ask NASA
scientists questions and get
answers.
First, here is the hottest news
from around the galaxy brought
to you by our cosmic news anchor
Scot Bednar.
Scott, what have you got for us?
>> Thank you, Sophia.
I'm Scot Bednar reporting live
from the cosmic news corner, and
have I got news for you.
History was made when the first
ever image of a black hole and
it's shadow was unveiled to the
world.
The photo may be blurry, and you
may say to yourself, did I just
catch the black hole?
No, we've never been able to
image one.
It took eight radio telescopes
around the world working
together as one earth-sized
telescope to capture this image.
The non-scientific term
describes a black hole is what
you get with holes in socks.
NASA's mission has discovered
that water is being released
from the moon during meter
showers.
It strikes the move and vapizes
and creates a shockwave in the
Lunar soil.
This shockwave can release the
upper level and release water
molecules from the layer below
it.
It there is water on the moon.
Have you heard?
NASA is sending a helicopter to
the red planet.
A helicopter to mars.
Now, this isn't your every day,
run of the mill helicopter.
With the body of size of a
rolled up ginny pig this will be
in the thin atmosphere of mars.
We've sent orbiters, landers and
rovers.
Think what would be possible
from the air.
NASA is taking science to new
heights.
Meanwhile, it's earth day.
Have you thrown away those
plastic straws?
How about planting a tree.
NASA secrets you--invites you to
take a picture using #picture
earth.
It can be a setting sun, a
blooming flour or a pile of
dirt.
NASA will take this to a cause
of legit pro portions.
Hungry for more NASA news?
Check it out, you might even
learn something.
Back to you, Sophia.
>> Thanks, Scott.
Happy earth day.
Today's episode celebrates what
makes our homes special and
weird.
We've been asking you to send us
pictures of your environment.
Take a look on social media and
there is still time for you to
submit your own picture.
During today's episode we're
going to talk about some of the
features that make our home
weird, how we study our planet
and how we might see these
features elsewhere in the solar
system.
Send your questions #ask NASA.
Before we go any further, let's
look at how earth is unique.
>> Earth.
Home.
>> Of all that NASA has
explored, none have matched the
complexity of our own.
Deserts, tropical forests, icy
poles, massive storms, a unique
atmosphere that protects and
insulates us, liquid water spans
its surface.
And a delicate balance of
systems gives way to a
kaleidoscope of life.
Earth is a very special place.
From the vantage point of space,
the perspective of sky and sea,
we study our planet not only to
learn about it, but also to
protect.
>> Earth is weird.
There is an active moving core.
A magnetic field that protects
our planet, a delicate
atmosphere and fresh water that
moves throughout the land and
air.
Then the weirdest of all: us.
There is nowhere else in the
solar system where we have found
life like our home planet.
We're going to talk to three
experts who will help us dive in
these topics.
We have Annmarie Eldering from
NASA's jpl who is working on the
orbiting carbon serve tore.
We've Jim Garvin, NASA's chief
scientist and Alicia Joseph, a
leading scientist here at
Goddard.
I'm going to start with you,
Jim, how do we get water on our
earth?
>> So our planet was born four
and a half billion years ago
when it came together.
It formed hot.
As it formed it was collided
with from the remnants in our
solar system.
Some were water edge.
Comets and then volcanos
erupted, releasing even more
water.
And it effects even the rocks on
our continent.
We are the water planet.
>> Whoo, and Alicia, how does it
move there our atmosphere.
>> Well, it's a fascinating
process which describes how
water moves above and below the
earth's surface.
Water moves from one reservoir
to another, for example, ice,
fresh and saline water like
ocean, lakes, rivers, and
aquifers and the atmosphere.
By the physical process of
evaporation, precipitation, and
surface run off.
In doing so water goes through
various forms like ice in its
solid state, liquid and vapor in
its gasseous state.
>> Can you talk to us about how
our atmosphere has formed?
>> Our planet is special because
it's big enough to contain an
atmosphere.
When the earth released gasses
and it built up over time, and
affected our planet and slowly
began the activity of life.
That's what makes our planet
atmosphere so unique.
>> Yes, our atmosphere is just
perfect for us.
It has 21% oxygen.
That's what we breathe, a whole
lot of nitrogen and other gasses
in trace amounts.
One of those is carbon dioxide.
It's like a blanket and keeps
our heat comfortable.
But in concentration is
something that we need to keep
our eye on.
And and if it's high in the
atmosphere it protect us from uv
radiation.
>> One of the things I don't
think about when we talk about
the earth but is super important
is on the inside.
That's our core.
Jim, can you tell us about our
earth's core?
>> Our planet is special because
we have a sweet inner score.
And an outer liquid core that
moves and it rotates and create
a geomagnetic field.
And that field is the force
field that protects us from all
that nasty space radiation that
if we moved beyond it we would
be experiencing.
We're lucky to have an inner
core.
We look at such elements on
other planets like mars, where
we'll be working for the martian
core.
>> Now is our chance to take
questions from you.
If you can send your questions
in, use #ask NASA, and go to
Twitter.
Vickie on face back is asking
how come earth is the only
planet with water and oceans?
>> Well, I will say this, first,
some of the planets and
planet-like objects have oceans,
but you don't see them on the
surface.
One of the big moons of Jupiter
called Europa, about the size of
our moon, probably has a bigger
ocean than earth under an ice
shell.
And a lot of mars is frozen.
So it's not exactly that planets
you see what you get.
There are ocean worlds to
discover.
>> Excellent.
On Twitter, how many advances in
space technology have helped us
on earth?
>> I think the answer is a lot.
[laughing]
I mean, I know there is
insulating materials that were
deviled for space program that
benefited us in our lives.
>> Laser detection we can use to
figure outdistances to things
that led us to driverless cars.
And there are things in our
atmosphere that affect our
quality of life.
>> Every day at NASA, scientists
and engineers are continuing to
push the envelope and to do
research to take it further and
give us more information.
>> What planet have we
discovered is the closest in
characteristics to earth?
>> Well, it depends on how you
look at it.
For me that world would be mars.
Even though it has less
atmosphere, it's colder, but it
has a history book written in
the rocks, so it really is like
earth's brother.
But don't forget Venus.
She's hiding her secrets and we
have to get to know better.
>> Wonderful.
Ask #NASA.
Let's talk about how we study
earth and the processes that
work on this planet.
Annmarie, can you tell us how we
study earth.
>> Humans have been studying
earth by looking in the sky and
around us.
But there is only so much you
can learn that way.
By using satellites you can how
everything is connected.
I'm going to tell you about
carbon dioxide.
You can see how quickly it moves
around and it's emitted by
humans when we burn fossil fuel
we put it up in the atmosphere.
It's like a blanket capturing
heat.
When the amount increases it
keeps us really warm.
But carbon dioxide is dynamic
with other parts of our earth.
The plants on the earth take it
up from the atmosphere and
release it when the leaves fall
off.
To understand it and pull these
pieces apart and see why each
piece is different in the carbon
cycle we use satellites to do
that.
We have o Co2 which has been up
there since 2014.
This is a model one-tenth in
size.
The real thing is about the size
of a refrigerator.
There is a payload going up to
the international space station
with oco-3.
>> That's happening soon.
>> Yes.
>> And we have the water cycle
that is important.
>> We use satellite, campaigns
and ground instruments to study
water.
Water is abundant on earth.
Approximately 71% of the earth's
surface is covered by water.
However, less than 3% is fresh
water.
Meaning, potable or suitable for
drinking.
And of this, two-thirds is
locked up in ice caps and
glaciers.
So fresh water is rare.
We have satellites like snap,
grace, which studies ground
water, and land which can study
the evaporate.
Collect data on small water
equivalent, and this data is
important.
It helps improve water
management and it guides
policies.
For example, more than
1.5 billion people rely on for
water supply.
>> You mentioned that NASA has
an airborne observatory.
1.5 billion people is enormous.
We didn't know that it we rely
on know melt.
Let's take a look at this.
>> Yes.
>> Between NASA jpl and the
department of water resources.
We operate in two states in
western U.S.
We operate in California and
Colorado.
We provide information to manage
our water resources.
We have learn two really great
things, the amount of water we
have in the snowpack, and how
reflective it is tells us when
it will melt from the mountains.
We have two instruments on board
that looks at the snowpack.
The first instrument is a
scanning radar.
The second instrument is an
imaging specktrometer.
Right now we're delivering
information to the department of
water resources.
That helps us where to put water
and how to allocate those
resources more efficiently.
It's amazing to be flying at
0,000 feet you get an epic view
of the water shed and a view of
the snowpack and how it's
distributed as a scientist I
really love just sitting up
there and thinking about how I
can understand the snowpack
more.
I start off in the spring
working very long days and
making sure that everything is
going smoothly, but it is really
worth it in the end to give the
data to the folks who need it so
we can improve our lives and
manage our resources more
efficiently.
>> All right, I hear some of you
are wondering about our NASA
spin off technology.
If you're interested in learning
more about spin off technology.
I had no idea before we started
the show that so many relied on
snow melt as a source of
drinking water and it is
incredible how our earth system
is so connected to provide us
with these precious resources.
So we've been talking a lot
about what makes earth special
but it doesn't mean that it's
only earth that has amazing
resources like atmospheres or
volcanos even seas.
Yes, earth is pretty weird, but
we see distinctive qualities in
the solar system and beyond.
Let's look at some of the areas
that share some of these
features.
Where do you think it is?
Type your answers and wherever
you're watching this.
Is this atmosphere a, mercury.
B, pluto.
C, the moon.
A, mercury.
B, pluto.
C, the moon.
The answer is b, pluto.
What is the difference between
this atmosphere and this
atmosphere.
>> This is an atmosphere that we
could not breathe very well.
It has gasses and it also
disappears and reappears almost
completely because it condenses
out and then goes back up.
So it's very different kind of
atmosphere than we have here on
earth.
>> Let's get on to another
question.
There are volcanos on other
planets, too.
Where do you think that this
volcano is in our solar system?
A, Venus.
B, Saturn.
C, mars.
Is it Venus, is it Saturn, or
mars.
The answer is mars.
How do the volcanos on mars
compare to the ones on earth?
>> This volcano is the biggest
volcano we've discovered in our
solar system.
90,000 feet high.
It's as big as France.
One volcano five cubic miles of
rock.
So this is the grandaddy when
this volcano erupted it produced
enough gas to throw
Mediterranean ocean with water.
>> There are other seas but they
may not be made up of water.
Where are these seas?
A, Saturn, b, Europa or c foe
toes.
The answer is a.
Are these similar to the ones on
earth?
>> They're very different.
These seas are made of
hydrocarbon and they freeze from
the bottom up.
We're seeing them through the
eyes of radar flying on the
radar Cassini.
And it is bigger than our moon
to our planet.
This is the connectivity of our
planet to other worlds.
>> So did any of you get those
at home right?
Our scientists are ready to
answer your questions using #ask
NASA.
How did earth cool down?
>> Well,.
>> Sounds like another Jim
question.
>> Well, our planet was big and
born hot.
But conduction and the planet
cooled down.
But it's still warm and we have
undersea volcanos that help to
get rid of that excessive heat
on our planet.
While that's happening the
planet's regulating itself
inside.
So that's what makes earth so
spectacular.
We have action everywhere.
>> All right, Susan on Facebook
is asking, is there evidence of
other planet's cores that used
to behave like ours?
>> We did detect the science of
magnetic field on mars.
But then something happened,
mars managed to lose its
magnetic field.
How do you do that?
I haven't lost a magnetic field
yet.
You need that to sustain life
today.
So good for either, let's watch
mars.
>> How big is the ozone hole and
has it changed?
>> That's a great question.
The ozone hole, I don't have a
number in square miles but I can
tell you that it's not as big
now that it used to be.
Remember those aerosol spray
cans?
No more of that, we are we're
starting to see the repair of
the ozone holes.
>> What are some of the things
that we can do to nurture our
planet.
>> Buy less stuff.
The less stuff we buy, the less
has to be made.
That's good.
I'm a big fan of the bicycle.
That's one thing I do to reduce
my driving.
>> Conservation of our natural
resources like water and other
things.
>> And plant trees.
>> Yes.
All right, Alicia, we have
another question for you, which
is how do satellites track the
movement of water?
>> Well, we use satellites to
track the movement of water in
various ways.
We have several missions that
are up.
For example, we have snap, as I
mentioned, and we track soil
moisture using that.
We have gpn, the global
precipitation measurement, and
we use that to track
precipitation, that is pulled
from the air.
And ice and the air flow where
we track the ice and snow in our
atmosphere and on the surface of
the earth.
>> I'm glad we're doing so much.
All right, how does global
warming affect earth?
>> Wow, that's a long answer.
I'll give you a couple of ideas.
First thing we want to say is
that the temperatures have been
increasing.
We can see that in the
temperature record the fact that
many times we see where the
hottest year on record.
The ice sheets are another
place, and the we sea the sea
levels increasing, and that ice
sheeting area is shrinking.
That all impacts from the
warming temperatures.
>> Things that were never
exposed are now exposed.
Green land has now been exposed.
We're finding airports from 50,
70 years ago that were buried in
ice that are showing some of
those consequences.
>> That's all the time that we
have today.
Thank you for participating and
sending questions in, keep
sending them in.
On earth, the combination of
features come together in a
perfect balance, and it gives us
an oasis in space.
So scientists considering, in
under five years, are your
favorite things about earth?
>> For me a snowy day on a
mountaintop.
>> Our spaceship earth is like
an island in space.
It mimics how our planet is.
>> I love the regenerative
properties of the earth.
The earth heals itself.
>> What is your favorite thing
about earth.
Let's hear from other scientists
about what they have to say.
>> Earth is my favorite planet.
>> My favorite part about planet
earth is the ocean.
>> My favorite part about earth
is that there is life here.
We know that there is life here.
There are so many aspects, the
fact that we're here.
>> That flowing before a
thunderstorm.
>> I enjoy the feel of the wind.
>> Flying on an airplane and
you're between two decks of
clouds.
>> There is so much that we're
learning in the hast two
decades.
>> There is such a large area on
this planet that is basically
relatively unexplored.
>> The depths of the ocean.
>> I think it's fantastic.
>> I think the best thing about
planet earth is that it's so
close to the moon, and the moon
is awesome.
>> The earth has a large moon
and it keeps the planet stable.
>> Our atmosphere.
>> And the feedback between life
and our climate.
>> How sunlight interacts.
>> I love the diversity of life
on earth and all of the places.
It's pretty amazing.
>> And my favorite thing is
carb, sugar, butter and bread.
So happy earth day, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
Next month we'll take you on a
tour of storms across the solar
system.
We'll see you next time.