Is There Life Beyond Earth? 🛸 "Unpack-It" with NASA and @AstroKobi | Google Arts & Culture

Summary

This video delves into humanity's quest to understand life beyond Earth, focusing on astrobiology and NASA's ongoing efforts to explore the universe. Experts discuss the origins of life, the possibility of extraterrestrial microorganisms, and missions like the Europa Clipper and Mars Perseverance Rover aimed at discovering biosignatures. While the search for life might lead to microbial organisms rather than complex life forms, these discoveries could reshape our understanding of life in the universe. Ultimately, the video highlights the extraordinary possibilities of space exploration and our place in the cosmos.

Takeaways

• 👽 The script explores the human tendency to fear aliens, yet questions how realistic that fear is.
• 🌍 Astrobiologists focus on three main questions: how life begins, if it exists elsewhere, and how we can search for it.
• 🧬 Life on Earth is incredibly diverse, from the deepest oceans to mountain tops, showing that it adapts to various environments.
• 💡 The origin of life on Earth remains unknown due to the planet's ever-changing landscapes and chemistry over time.
• 🌌 The vastness of space and history makes it statistically likely that life exists or has existed elsewhere in the universe.
• 🌋 Planets with geologic activity, like Europa, may have the conditions necessary for life, with missions like the Europa Clipper aimed at exploring this possibility.
• 🦠 Microbial life is the most likely form of extraterrestrial life we'll find first, as microbes dominated Earth for billions of years.
• 🔬 Biosignatures are evidence of life, such as fossils or chemical signatures, and tools like the James Webb Space Telescope can help detect them on distant planets.
• ☄️ Sample return missions, like OSIRIS-REx and Perseverance, aim to analyze pristine materials from asteroids and Mars to better understand our solar system's history and the potential for life.
• 🌟 Mars is a focal point for exploration because it once had conditions suitable for life, and ongoing missions seek to uncover any past or present evidence of life on the red planet.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video explores the search for extraterrestrial life, focusing on astrobiology, how life begins and evolves, and the potential for life beyond Earth, including missions like the Europa Clipper and the Perseverance Rover on Mars.

Why do humans often associate aliens with fear?

Humans often associate aliens with fear because they represent the unknown, and it's natural for people to be wary of things that are unfamiliar or different.

What does NASA's astrobiology program aim to discover?

NASA's astrobiology program seeks to answer three fundamental questions: How does life begin and evolve? Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? And how do we search for life in the universe?

How does the environment impact the development of life on Earth?

Life on Earth has evolved through a conversation with its environment, with factors like water, energy from the sun, and the planet's temperature and pressure playing key roles in enabling life's chemistry.

Why is the possibility of finding microbial life more likely than discovering larger organisms on other planets?

Microbial life is more likely because microorganisms dominated Earth's history for billions of years before larger organisms evolved. Additionally, the environmental conditions on other planets may favor the survival of simpler forms of life.

What role does water play in the search for extraterrestrial life?

Water is crucial in the search for life because it is the solvent life uses on Earth. Scientists follow water when searching for life on other planets, like in the oceans beneath the ice on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

What are biosignatures, and why are they important in astrobiology?

Biosignatures are evidence of past or present life, such as chemical compounds or physical traces like fossils. They are vital in the search for extraterrestrial life because they provide clues that life may have existed or currently exists on other planets.

Why is Mars a key focus in the search for life beyond Earth?

Mars is a key focus because it shares similarities with Earth, such as evidence of ancient oceans and rivers. Its history suggests that it may have once supported life, making it a prime target for exploration and sample return missions.

What is the significance of the Europa Clipper mission?

The Europa Clipper mission is significant because it will explore Europa, an ice-bound ocean world, to determine if it has the necessary conditions for life, including geologic activity and potential hydrothermal vents under its ice-covered oceans.

What makes astrobiology important for understanding life on Earth?

Astrobiology helps us understand life on Earth by examining how life interacts with its environment, how it might arise in other parts of the universe, and by providing insights into how we can protect and sustain life on our own planet.

Outlines

00:00

🛸 Fear of Aliens and the Search for Life Beyond Earth

The script opens with a reflection on humanity's fear of aliens, which is deeply rooted in the unknown. It questions whether this fear is rational and transitions into a broader discussion about life beyond Earth. The introduction of Kobi, a space enthusiast, leads to an interview with NASA astrobiologist Heather Graham, who explains that understanding life involves studying the interaction between life forms and their environments, sparking the curiosity of the audience.

05:00

🌍 Life on Earth and the Diversity of Organisms

The second section highlights the rich diversity of life on Earth, from vast ecosystems to the tiniest microbes. It emphasizes that life isn't limited to humans and animals, pointing out that organisms exist in extreme environments like ocean depths and icy peaks. Heather Graham suggests life is a flux of matter and energy, and discusses the origins of life on Earth. The section also touches on the possibility of life on other planets and how understanding our own life forms can guide us in searching for extraterrestrial life.

10:03

🌌 Exploring Microbial Life on Other Planets

This part delves deeper into the scientific approach to searching for life on other planets. It stresses the importance of geologic activity and water in fostering life. The focus shifts to Europa, an ice-bound ocean world that might harbor hydrothermal vents capable of supporting life. NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission will investigate whether such environments can sustain small life forms like microbes, leading to exciting possibilities in astrobiology.

15:04

🚀 Microbial Aliens: The First Form of Life We Might Find

The script underscores the idea that microbial life may be the first form of life discovered beyond Earth. Microbes have existed on Earth for billions of years, and understanding their evolution could help us find similar life forms on other planets. The section explains how biosignatures, or signs of past or present life, can help scientists identify life on other planets. The importance of missions like the Perseverance Rover on Mars and the James Webb Space Telescope in analyzing biosignatures is highlighted.

🪐 Asteroid Sample Return and Mars Exploration

This segment emphasizes the significance of sample return missions from asteroids and Mars. It discusses how studying asteroid samples, like those from the OSIRIS-REx mission, can offer insight into the early solar system and the formation of Earth. The Perseverance Rover's mission on Mars is highlighted, focusing on its ability to collect rock samples that may contain traces of past life. The exploration of Mars and its ancient oceans adds a deeper perspective to humanity's ongoing quest for answers about life beyond Earth.

🔭 The Bigger Picture: Astrobiology’s Role in Understanding Life

In the concluding paragraph, the focus shifts to the broader implications of astrobiology. The study of life beyond Earth teaches us about our relationship with our planet and the importance of preserving its ecosystems. It emphasizes how each discovery, no matter how small, expands our understanding of the universe and our place in it. The closing thoughts encourage viewers to appreciate Earth's uniqueness and its extraordinary capacity to support life.

Keywords

💡Astrobiology

Astrobiology is the scientific study of life in the universe, including its origins, evolution, distribution, and future. In the video, astrobiology is a central theme as it addresses key questions like how life begins and whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. NASA's astrobiology program is focused on finding biosignatures and understanding planetary environments, making it pivotal in the exploration for extraterrestrial life.

💡Biosignatures

Biosignatures are signs or evidence of past or present life, which can be physical, chemical, or biological indicators. The video emphasizes the search for biosignatures as a means to detect life on other planets. Examples include microbial fossils, chemical compositions, and energy patterns that could suggest life, as seen in the discussion about the Curiosity Rover on Mars analyzing organic molecules.

💡Microbiology

Microbiology refers to the study of microscopic organisms, like bacteria and viruses. In the video, microbiology is highlighted as the most likely form of extraterrestrial life that could be discovered. The video suggests that since microbes dominated Earth for most of its history, finding microbial life on other planets is more probable than discovering complex organisms.

💡Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal vents are openings in the sea floor that emit hot, mineral-rich water. These vents are mentioned in the video as potential habitats for life in oceans beneath the ice on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. On Earth, these ecosystems support life without sunlight, making them a key analog for how life might survive in extreme environments on other planets.

💡Europa Clipper

The Europa Clipper is a NASA mission set to launch in the near future to study Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The video mentions this mission as a key step in the search for extraterrestrial life, particularly because Europa is believed to have a subsurface ocean that could harbor life. The Clipper will look for signs of geological activity and possible biosignatures in Europa’s ice-covered oceans.

💡Geologic Activity

Geologic activity refers to the dynamic processes of a planet, such as volcanic eruptions, tectonic movements, and other physical changes. The video notes that planets with geologic activity are more likely to support life because such activity helps cycle essential elements and energy. Understanding a planet’s geologic history can provide clues about its ability to sustain life.

💡James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a powerful space telescope used to observe distant galaxies and planetary atmospheres. In the video, JWST is highlighted for its potential to detect biosignatures by analyzing atmospheric compositions of exoplanets. The telescope recently detected carbon dioxide in an exoplanet's atmosphere, a critical step toward finding habitable planets.

💡Meteorites

Meteorites are fragments of space debris that survive their journey through Earth's atmosphere and land on the surface. The video discusses how meteorites, particularly those billions of years old, provide valuable insights into the early solar system. Studying meteorites helps scientists understand the chemistry of early planetary formation, which can inform the search for life on other planets.

💡Sample Return Mission

A sample return mission involves collecting samples from other planets, moons, or asteroids and bringing them back to Earth for study. The video features several such missions, including OSIRIS-REx, which will return samples from the asteroid Bennu. These missions are crucial because they provide uncontaminated materials from space that can help scientists understand the building blocks of life and planetary development.

💡Perseverance Rover

The Perseverance Rover is a NASA mission currently exploring the surface of Mars. The video emphasizes its role in searching for biosignatures by collecting rock cores that could contain preserved evidence of past life. These samples will be returned to Earth in a future mission, providing direct data on Mars's history and its potential to have supported life.

Highlights

In the early 20th century, humanity was unaware of being observed by intelligences greater than itself.

Astrobiologist Heather Graham discusses the importance of understanding life by looking at both the living and the environmental context in which it exists.

NASA's astrobiology program is focused on three key questions: How does life begin and evolve, does life exist elsewhere in the universe, and how do we search for it?

Life's diversity on Earth is vast, existing in environments ranging from the ocean floor to dry mountaintops, illustrating life's adaptability.

Water is a critical solvent for life on Earth and is abundant across the solar system, offering clues for where life might exist elsewhere.

Mars and Venus may have once supported life billions of years ago, but deteriorating conditions made living there increasingly difficult.

Microbial life, not large organisms, is the most likely form of alien life we will discover, given Earth's own microbial-dominated history.

Hydrothermal vents on Europa could potentially support life, drawing parallels to similar ecosystems deep in Earth’s oceans.

Missions like NASA's Curiosity Rover on Mars and James Webb Space Telescope are designed to search for biosignatures—evidence of past or present life.

Asteroid Bennu’s sample return is critical for understanding the building blocks of life, providing pristine records of early solar system material.

Mars sample return mission, including the Perseverance Rover, is collecting subsurface samples, which could offer clues about past life on Mars.

Mars, once having rivers and oceans, is a symbol of what Earth could have become if conditions were different.

Microbes ruled Earth for 70% of its history, suggesting that microbial life is the most likely form we will encounter elsewhere.

Astrobiology helps humans understand not only life beyond Earth but also our own relationship with the environment and how to protect it.

The incremental discoveries made by scientists, using missions like the Europa Clipper and Mars Rovers, are essential in expanding our understanding of life's potential in the universe.

Transcripts

- [Announcer] We know now that

in the early years of the 20th century,

this world was being watched closely

by intelligences greater than man's

and surely drew their plans against us.

(suspenseful music)

(planet exploding)

- When we think of aliens,

most of us think of something scary,

something different.

I think it's natural

for us to be a little bit fearful of them.

The unknown.

That's just human nature.

But how realistic is that fear?

(upbeat electronic music)

- [Narrator] What it's out there?

Searching for answers.

What is life?

Discovery.

Ancient cultures.

(upbeat electronic music)

- Hey there, I'm Kobi,

and some of you may know me

from my social media channels, Astro Kobi,

but if you don't, don't worry.

My goal has always been to make space more interesting

for the general public.

And speaking about life

beyond earth is something I've done many times, but today,

I wanna get to the bottom of it

and get some real answers from a NASA astrobiologist.

- [Heather] People have been asking

this question for a long time.

Everyone has looked out at their landscape

around the world and tried to

imagine how they arrived there,

how all the other life that's there arrived there.

If you wanna understand something so grand as what is life,

how does it arise on a landscape, how does it perpetuate,

how does it distribute itself,

you absolutely require that not only the living part

of that equation be addressed,

but also the grander understanding

of the environment where the life is at.

I'm Heather Graham.

I work at NASA Goddard and I'm an astrobiologist.

- Currently,

the NASA astrobiology program is

working to address three fundamental questions:

How does life begin and evolve?

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?

And how do we search for life in the universe?

- The first thing we have to think about in astrobiology is,

what is this thing we call life?

- [Narrator 2] What is life?

- [Narrator 3] What is life?

- [Narrator 4] What is life?

- It is summer here in Australia and everything

around me is teeming with life.

Isn't it just incredible to think about how many landscapes

around our planet alone can support this much life?

(monkey screeching)

Now, when we talk about life,

the conversation tends to center around

life that more or less looks like humans.

But life is definitely not just you, me, and animals.

The diversity of life is truly mind-blowing.

- Everywhere we go on this planet, we see life,

down at the very bottom

of the ocean in the deepest sediments,

encased in ices and at the top of dry mountaintops.

I like to think of life as

basically fluxes of matter and energy.

- [Narrator] 95% of the plant is made

of elements originally contained in the air.

Some of these come to the plant by way of the soil.

The other 5% originates in the soil itself.

The plant has locked the sun's energy,

the key and spark of life.

- [Narrator 2] But how?

- [Narrator 3] But how?

- How? - How?

- We don't actually know yet how life on this planet began.

And it's really a hard and tricky problem to get

at because the earth has looked wildly different

over its history,

very different atmospheric compositions,

wildly different ocean chemistries.

The continents have moved around and been

in so many different places, but for much of that history,

life has been part of the landscape on earth.

And so when we roll back that clock

and we think about the earliest history of the Earth,

we can think about these places.

They're basically foreign to us right now.

(dinosaur growling)

When we look at these fossils,

we have to remember that they were the best

at what they were doing at the time they were alive.

But they're no longer with us,

these very strange life forms.

Life is everywhere, but the environment selects.

(growling)

And the other thing to think about though, too,

is that the myriad possibility space

for life isn't necessarily represented by just us,

by just this one really successful experiment that was done

on the early earth that became the diverse

and varied family of life that we now have.

So I don't really know if I would want to just think

about how did this life begin, but how does any life begin?

- How does any life begin? - How does any life begin?

- [Narrator] How does any life begin?

- We know that water is the solvent that life uses here.

It's all around us and

it's replete throughout the solar system.

We have lots of energy sources on this planet,

starting with the sun,

and that's the basis of most of the biosphere.

And we know that we're in a physical space that promotes all

of the chemistry that's special to life.

We're a good temperature and pressure

for all of those chemistries to happen.

So when we start to look at life this way

and realize that life is this grand conversation happening

with its environment,

it makes it easier for us to imagine

that on other planets,

they also have rich histories

and they also may have been many planets

over the course of their lifetime.

And even more significant,

this means that they may have also been able to

accommodate many different types of life.

- How crazy is that to think about?

We look to Mars billions of years ago, or Venus.

There are indications that they could've supported life

in the past, and over time,

these conditions have just deteriorated.

So, living became more challenging.

There could've been a story of life similar

to ours somewhere in the history of the universe.

Just think about how easy it would be to have

missed each other within the full 13.8 billion year history

of the universe.

- [Group] Wow!

- With this widened perspective of planetary availability

and what life is,

it makes it almost statistically

impossible to think that there isn't

or hasn't been life elsewhere in the universe.

- [Narrator] It's gotta be there, but where?

- Where? - Where?

- So when we're thinking about the kind of planet

where we think might life might be,

it's important to think

about a planet that has a certain amount

of geologic activity.

- [Narrator] Geologic activity.

- Geologic activity. - Geologic activity.

- [Narrator 2] Geologic activity.

- We wanna see that kind of geologic activity

on a planet that we imagine might have life

'cause we know that there's other mechanisms

for elemental cycling.

- [Narrator] The hot lava is cooled by ocean waves

and vegetation soon starts, starting another life cycle.

- So a mission coming up that I'm really excited

about is the Europa Clipper launching next year.

We know that there's a solvent there.

It's an icebound ocean world.

And when we get better imagery,

we'll be able to better understand

if it's an active, a geologically active world.

- And initial strategy when searching

for life is to follow the water.

Previous missions suggest that at the bottom

of Europa's oceans,

there could be hydrothermal vents,

or openings in the sea floor.

Those openings heat water

and could fuel life in these ecosystems.

On earth,

we see those same hydrothermal vent systems

on our own sea floor as an oasis for life,

fueled by chemical energy.

Because remember, life needs an energy source.

And with Europa being so far away from the sun

with oceans beneath the ice,

the type of energy required

for life would likely have to be chemical.

- [Narrator] We found something.

We found something.

- [Narrator 2] What did we find?

- As we're approaching an exploration

like the Europa Clipper, we have to be practical.

And that means we have to think small.

We have to think that we're going to be looking

for small organisms rather than manta rays.

- [Narrator] Manta?

No!

- The kind of ecosystem that is complex enough to

accommodate really big organisms would've already

modified the crust or the surface

or the atmosphere of that planet

in a way to give us a clue that life is there.

And we just don't see

that in the planets of the solar system.

So microbiology is really what we'll find first.

- Microbiology. - Microbiology.

- Microbiology. - Microbiology.

- [Narrator] Every living thing on earth

has evolved from the lowly, the invisibly small microbe.

Given nourishment,

the microbe will grow colonies,

microbes have adapted to survive the most hostile conditions.

- There's so much potential there, so many possibilities.

They have all sorts of different life states,

they also have all of these really unique

and interesting consortiums that they form.

They work together

as communities to maximize their potential

on a landscape to really optimize

for that conversation they're having with an environment.

- Her prediction of microbiology here is really important.

Let's back it up to where we started this video.

(suspenseful music)

Microbial alien life may not be what we have all envisioned,

but it's a really exciting prospect.

We have to remember that the majority

of our history has been microbial.

Microbes were in charge of

our planet for some three billion years

before bigger organisms even showed up.

If you think about the grand history of the earth.

it was a micro world for 70% of its existence.

If life elsewhere follows the same timeline,

we are far more likely to find a micro world then,

like Heather said, a manta ray world.

- [Narrator] Manta?

No!

- If we find a microbe,

it means we found a planetary chemistry

that discovered how to build life.

Yeah, maybe we wouldn't be able to talk to it,

but at least we would know

that we aren't alone and life isn't a one-off occurrence.

So now with this new perspective on what life we will find,

you may be wondering,

if it's a tiny microorganism and it's on another planet,

how are we ever going to find that?

To find that.

To find that.

To find that.

- [Narrator] How?

- [Narrator 2] How?

- [Narrator 3] How?

- [Narrator 4] How are we ever going to find that?

- In astrobiology,

we have this word that we use, biosignatures,

that we're looking for biosignatures.

Really biosignatures is just evidence

of life in the past or present.

And it can be as simple

as a footprint on a landscape.

That's a piece of evidence that something was living there.

It can be like fossils,

just that compression pattern

of fossils that you see in rocks.

That's evidence that there was an organism there

sometime in the past.

And that's one type of biosignature that we use.

That's an observational kind of biosignature.

Chemical biosignatures are

a little bit more specialized

and they use a lot of really technical equipment.

And a great example

of a mission that's using chemical biosignatures

is the Curiosity Rover on Mars.

(mysterious piano music)

- [Announcer] Stage online.

and confirmed.

- On that rover is an instrument called SAM

and it's basically an entire chemistry lab stuffed

down into something about the size of a big microwave oven.

And right now, on the surface of Mars,

it's taking rock and pulling out organic molecules

that we think might be possible chemical biosignatures.

But energy transfer is a little bit different.

You're looking for evidence that something

is using energy in that environment.

A mission that I would give as an example

of that is the kind of imagery that we're hoping to get

with James Webb's Space Telescope.

- The James Webb Space Telescope,

sometimes referred to as JWST,

is the world's largest and most complex space telescope.

JWST can analyze everything

from the most distant galaxies ever observed

to the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets.

It is so powerful

that we can use it in our hunt for biosignatures.

You see, recently,

it captured the first clear evidence

of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

of a planet outside of our solar system.

Findings like these will give our scientists insight

into how these planets form

and the uniqueness of our own solar system.

- There's another really exciting thing that we do

in our search to understand our solar system,

and that's sample return.

So right now in our labs here at Goddard,

it is all hands on deck.

We are all madly working to get ready for the return

of Bennu, the asteroid sample that's coming

to us from OSIRIS-REx in September of this year.

- You have to keep in mind,

we still aren't entirely

sure how life first began here on earth.

And perhaps looking at some

of these asteroids will help us to understand our origins.

- We have asteroid pieces here

on this planet that we've had since

before sample return, and that's meteorites.

- [Narrator] These visitors from outer space come

in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

They are meteorites, some 4 1/2 billion years old.

- I remember the first time I ever held a meteorite.

The person in my lab who handed it to me said,

"This is the oldest thing you'll ever hold."

This is as old as the solar system.

So we don't really know what the landscape was

when life arose on this planet.

And meteorites have been our lens to

understand that chemistry.

There's been problems, though,

with trying to understand the chemistry of meteorites

because they have to come through our atmosphere.

So they've been heated, they hit the earth,

there's the potential for contamination.

And so meteorites are an imperfect way to try

and rebuild that earliest earth.

And that's what's exciting about just going to an asteroid.

We can go and access that earliest planetary material

and protect it and seal it up as we bring it back

to earth so that we know we're getting a really

pristine record of what those small solar system

bodies that represent the earliest earth really are made of.

- And that is the coolest part

about an asteroid sample return mission.

We are getting to look at a snapshot

of what our own planet was formed out of.

- Another really exciting sample return mission

happening right now is what's going on

with the Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars.

- [Announcer] Confirmation of entry interface.

Parachute has deployed about 20 meters off the surface.

- [Announcer 2] Tango Delta, nominal.

- [Announcer] Touchdown confirmed!

Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars

ready to begin seeking of half life.

- Mars sample return is a huge endeavor.

It's NASA, we have partners with the European Space Agency.

All over the world,

people are thinking really hard

about how we can collect and safely bring home

and analyze these precious samples from Mars.

This Rover has a special apparatus

and it's making these rock cores

about six inches long that it's putting in special tubes

and those tubes will eventually be returned to earth.

We have Rovers that have been doing chemistry

and looking at the surface of Mars,

but now we'll finally get below the surface to

see what's beneath.

On the surface of Mars,

there's a lot of radiation and it's very dry

and so it's actually hostile to a lot

of the important molecules that we look

for when we look for life as well as life itself.

But those things can be preserved in those rock cores

and we're really excited to see what's buried literally

in those rock cores that can tell us

about the history of Mars.

- The Perseverance Rover is doing some serious work

on Mars to get those samples ready to come back home.

But I think there is one last question

that we still haven't answered.

Why do we care about Mars so much?

Humanity has looked out to Mars for millennia

and dreamed about what it might be like on the red planet.

Mars is our sibling.

It represents what could've been

if earth weren't so fortunate.

It is true that at the moment,

Mars looks pretty dry and uninhabitable,

but it wasn't always like that.

The Rovers on Mars have already found solid proof

of ancient oceans and rivers that float

on Mars billions of years ago.

Data will continue to be used to develop plans

for future missions to collect samples

of the martian surface in the hopes

of identifying evidence of past or present life.

- Astrobiology is a way of looking

at life with the broadest possible lens.

So what unifies all of this exploration we're doing

for me is that we're building this data set,

we're building our knowledge of the universe,

and we're also finding out about ourselves,

our relationship to our landscape,

the conversation we're having

with our own planet that we are living on

and how we can protect it.

- For now,

we can put scary aliens on the shelf

and focus on these small incremental discoveries

that scientists are making with each mission

that creates new benchmarks and expands our opportunities.

We may not know yet how life began on this planet,

but we've learned how varied life is, and given time,

how little it needs to rise.

We also got a glimpse into some

of the tools for how to detect it

and we found a possibility that life could have arisen

beyond earth and is somewhere hidden

in the universe yet to be discovered.

But my key takeaway is that today,

we live in a world that is extraordinary,

and full of possibilities.

- [Announcer] It's all-inspiring.

It makes you realize just what you have

back there on earth.

The earth from here is a grand oasis

of the big vastness of space.

(inspirational music)