0:00:02 > 0:00:02Coming
0:00:02 > 0:00:07Coming up
0:00:07 > 0:00:07Coming up next,
0:00:07 > 0:00:07Coming up next, Click,
0:00:07 > 0:00:07Coming up next, Click, followed
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0:00:08 > 0:00:26Coming up next, Click, followed by Newswatch.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30We've long fantasised about the possibility
0:00:30 > 0:00:38of life on other planets.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41But it was only in 1995 that we actually found the first
0:00:41 > 0:00:43planet outside of our solar system.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44These exoplanets are hard to find.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Of course they are, they're relatively tiny.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51And so far they've mainly been detected indirectly,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55either by the incredibly slight dimming of a star's light
0:00:55 > 0:00:59as the planet moves in front of it, or by the wobble of the star
0:00:59 > 0:01:02caused by something orbiting it.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05In the last 20 years we've detected about 2000 exoplanets,
0:01:05 > 0:01:10but we haven't actually seen many at all.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15And this is why.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Well, the planets are very, very faint compared to a star
0:01:18 > 0:01:19and they're very close to a star.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23The kind planets where we might find life, an earthlike planet orbiting
0:01:23 > 0:01:27a star, would be 10 billion times fainter than a star.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31But if you can see the planets, you can start to look for evidence
0:01:31 > 0:01:36of life on their surfaces.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39What you need is something to block out the light of a star.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45What you need is a star shade.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Due to go into space in the middle of the next decade,
0:01:49 > 0:01:54it is a crazy-sounding thing that can be flown in between a space
0:01:54 > 0:01:57telescope and the star to precisely block out the star's light
0:01:57 > 0:02:01and reveal any planets.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07It'll be a few tens of metres in diameter, and in order to block
0:02:07 > 0:02:10out just the light from that distant star, it'll need to be
0:02:10 > 0:02:21about 40,000 kilometres away from the telescope.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24And this is not even the maddest part of the scheme.
0:02:24 > 0:02:25See, there's a problem.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28The star shade won't fit in a rocket.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31And that's why a big part of the work being done here
0:02:31 > 0:02:34at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, and the beautiful
0:02:34 > 0:02:37solution they've come up with, is all about fitting the thing
0:02:37 > 0:02:40into a tight space and then unfurling it once in space.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41And the inspiration comes from origami.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Wow!
0:02:59 > 0:03:00It's really quite impressive.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04At the end you can see how large an area you can fill with such
0:03:04 > 0:03:07a small volume of material.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10But this is only the half of it because you have petals
0:03:10 > 0:03:12which come at here as well?
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Yes, exactly. Oh, my goodness.
0:03:16 > 0:03:25This cardboard model is the latest test to make sure the shade
0:03:25 > 0:03:26can unfurl perfectly when it's all alone.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30The flower shape blocks out the light better than a circle,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and those outer petals need to be made to an accuracy
0:03:33 > 0:03:40of 50 to 100 microns.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42If I may say, this sounds crazy!
0:03:42 > 0:03:44This sounds like we want to spot some planets,
0:03:45 > 0:03:46what are we going to do?
0:03:46 > 0:03:50We're going to put a shade in space and we're going to fire
0:03:50 > 0:03:52it 40,000 kms from the telescope?
0:03:52 > 0:03:55That sounds insane.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Yeah, but what's really cool about that if there is this insane
0:03:59 > 0:04:01concept of how you're going to fly this
0:04:01 > 0:04:04massive shade so far away, 40,000 kilometres away from the telescope,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06but once you start breaking it down into little problems,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10you start testing and build a petal, you build the truss,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12you build the shield, you realise piece by piece
0:04:12 > 0:04:15what engineering needs to go in to that problem to solve it.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19So we just break it down into little problems that we can solve
0:04:19 > 0:04:21in a piecewise fashion.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Yeah, and isn't that a great motto for life?
0:04:23 > 0:04:29Take an impossible problem and break it down into more possible chunks.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34I love the fact that at JPL you can just wander into a random room
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and it is called something like the Extreme Terrain Mobility lab.
0:04:37 > 0:04:38That's what they're doing here.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40They're making robots to cope with extreme terrain.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44This is Axel, which is a robot with a pair of wheels that can be
0:04:44 > 0:04:45lowered down cliffs.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47And this is Fido and Athena.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50These are the prototype is for the Mars rovers
0:04:50 > 0:04:51Spirit and Opportunity.
0:04:51 > 0:04:58Of course the point about robots is they can do things that humans
0:04:58 > 0:05:01might want to do but in places that humans can't go.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03All of these have fairly familiar designs, wheels here,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06some robots have legs.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09But Kate Russell has found one that looks like nothing
0:05:09 > 0:05:10I have ever seen before.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13In 2012 the world watched with baited breath as Nasa deployed
0:05:13 > 0:05:16a rover on the surface of Mars using a sky crane.
0:05:16 > 0:05:24This kind of science is incredibly expensive.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30The rover weighed 900 kilograms, as much of a full grown giraffe.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34But the equipment required to land it gently, it had to be able to take
0:05:34 > 0:05:36the weight of 32 giraffes.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37Total cost?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40$2.5 billion.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43It would have been much cheaper if Curiosity was lightweight,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46came flat-packed and was sturdy enough just to be dropped
0:05:46 > 0:05:52on the red planet's surface.
0:05:52 > 0:05:58Meet Super Ball, a tensgrity robot in development to Nasa Ames.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02This lightweight sphere-like matrix can be packed down flat,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05taking up minimal space in a rocket and vastly reducing launch costs.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Because of the unique structure of this robot and the fact
0:06:08 > 0:06:11that it can deform and reform itself and take massive impacts,
0:06:11 > 0:06:17eventually Nasa will be able to literally throw it at the surface
0:06:17 > 0:06:20of a planet and its scientific payload in the middle
0:06:20 > 0:06:24will be protected.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27It's bouncy.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Once deployed, Super Ball can handle much rougher terrains then a rover,
0:06:32 > 0:06:38rolling right over obstacles and up and down hills.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Tendon wires connecting the struts spool in and out to create momentum,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44in much the same way as flexing your muscles
0:06:44 > 0:06:45moves your limbs.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48If it bumps into anything solid, it'll just bounce back.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51It should even be able to survive falling off a cliff.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54The next step for Super Ball is to redesign the robot such
0:06:54 > 0:06:58that it can actually survive at least a one-storey drop.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02You can expect to see a system like this on an actual Nasa mission
0:07:02 > 0:07:07probably in 15 or 20 years' time.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Over at JPL, they are working on limbed robots.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Its research spawned from the DARPA Robotics Challenge where teams
0:07:14 > 0:07:17competed to create highly mobile and dextrous robots that can move,
0:07:17 > 0:07:31explore and build things without human intervention.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35The plan for King Louis is to be sent into space to build stuff
0:07:35 > 0:07:38with visual codes a bit like QR codes to guide it.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39We have a structured environment.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42We know what we are putting together so we put signposts
0:07:42 > 0:07:46onto all the bits and pieces of the structure we are putting
0:07:46 > 0:07:48together, that tell the robot a few things.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Most importantly, it tells the robot where those things
0:07:50 > 0:07:53it is manipulating are in space, literally and figuratively,
0:07:53 > 0:07:54so it can align itself better.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56The codes will also include construction information
0:07:56 > 0:08:03like which bits go together and how much torque to apply to a bolt.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06This will allow robots to work autonomously in teams,
0:08:06 > 0:08:15building space stations or planetary habitats faster
0:08:15 > 0:08:16and more economically than previously possible.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19But Nasa hasn't completely given up on our four-wheeled space helpers.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Here we've tried to develop new kinds of robots
0:08:22 > 0:08:24for future space exploration.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26This robot, for example, is called K-Rex.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30It's one of our main research robots that we develop and test here
0:08:30 > 0:08:32in the robotscape at Nasa Ames.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35This is a large play area for robots, a proving ground
0:08:35 > 0:08:38that we use to really try to develop things like navigation
0:08:38 > 0:08:49or do the mission simulations.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51So, the biggest question perhaps of the day for me,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53can I drive K-Rex?
0:08:53 > 0:08:53Definitely.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Let's have you do that.
0:08:54 > 0:08:54Yes!
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Now lots of you think we Click reporters have the best jobs
0:08:58 > 0:09:01in the world, but after spending a day at the roverscape testing
0:09:01 > 0:09:08ground, I think there is another contender for that title.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18I've had some really engaging virtual reality experiences.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22One of them simply set in an office, but it seems if you are entering
0:09:22 > 0:09:25at VR world, you might as well go somewhere really
0:09:25 > 0:09:30exciting, like space.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33That's where Home: A VR Spacewalk takes you.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Inspired by Nasa's training programme, it aims to bring
0:09:35 > 0:09:41a mission in space to the masses.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44After getting used to your new surroundings, you undertake
0:09:44 > 0:09:48an emergency mission.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Whilst enjoying views of Earth from afar, a friendly hand
0:09:51 > 0:09:54from a fellow astronaut helps to get you on your way.
0:09:54 > 0:09:55Ah, I can hold a hand.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I feel a strange sense of safety there is another astronaut here.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01The BBC commissioned the experience last year,
0:10:01 > 0:10:08as its first steps into the world of virtual reality content.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11We've taken all the storytelling power of the BBC and applied that
0:10:11 > 0:10:14behind it, so there's a great script, a great narrative and then
0:10:14 > 0:10:18we've looked at all the cutting edge explorations people are doing around
0:10:18 > 0:10:20VR, in terms of bio-monitoring, haptic feedback etc etc and trying
0:10:20 > 0:10:29to bring that into it as a massive piece of learning really.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33My preview here on the HTC Vive saw it set up with a chair providing
0:10:33 > 0:10:35haptic feedback and a heart rate monitor which resulted
0:10:36 > 0:10:41in my being sent back to base if readings went too high.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43But apparently I'm very calm in space.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47In March it will be released for Vive on Steam as well as Oculus.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Wow, this is incredible.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Oh, goodness! I feel most disorientated!
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Wow, the depth of it I think was the thing
0:11:05 > 0:11:06that was most surprising.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10You really got a sense of being up high, seeing things
0:11:10 > 0:11:11really, really far away.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15It took a while to get grips with what I was meant to be doing,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18but just the fact that I was moving around within space
0:11:18 > 0:11:19was quite incredible.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Whilst it wasn't possible to create a sense of weightlessness,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24the pictures were amazing, but obviously, I can't vouch for how
0:11:24 > 0:11:28true to life they are.