Here.
The engineers are constantly transmitting and receiving signals
through the Deep Space Network or the DSN as we call it.
The DSN is the primary way
we send signals from here
all the way to here.
Over the next several minutes
in this specially imagined spacecraft,
we'll be going on a journey to some of our most important missions
and recent discoveries in the exciting search for life in the universe.
Each of us has looked up in the night sky and wondered, Are we alone?
Or just one of those points of light harbor life?
Now, for the first time, JPL is tantalizingly close
to answering that question.
Let's look at one of the closest points of light in the night sky.
The planet Mars
associate with life.
We learned two key lessons from Curiosity.
The first is that where you
land and explore are critical.
You have to go to the places that preserve
remnants of those ancient days.
Three and a half billion years ago, when Mars was habitable.
Secondly, we will always be limited
in the amount of scientific equipment we can take to the surface of Mars.
Especially when it comes to looking for
things as subtle as signs of ancient life.
Saturn's moon Enceladus actually has active geysers,
and they've been photographed by the Cassini spacecraft
during its decade long mission at Saturn.
That same tidal force that heats up
the ice also cracks it allowing it to form
These geyser like sprays
JPL and NASA are actively working on missions
to fly directly through the geysers, analyzing the water droplets.