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We've made a major breakthrough
in our search for life.
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Because of Charlie Brown,
3
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we've discovered an asteroid
passing through our solar system.
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Sorry, everyone.
5
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We're thanking you, you blockhead!
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In that case, you're welcome.
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Everything in our solar system
orbits in one direction,
8
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but Franklin noticed this asteroid
is moving the opposite way.
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And that means it must have come from
a different solar system,
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which makes it an interstellar traveler.
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{\an8}This is not the kind of
interstellar traveler I signed up for.
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{\an8}Where are the blobby green aliens?
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{\an8}Where are the flying saucers?
Where are the special effects?
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This isn't science fiction, Lucy.
This isn't science fiction, Lucy.
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It's even better!
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For untold epochs,
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this asteroid roamed the stars
on a great celestial journey.
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Of the billions of solar systems
it could have passed through,
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what are the odds it would arrive in ours?
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{\an8}When you put it that way,
I guess it is kind of exciting.
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For a rock.
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Kind of?
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This is incredible!
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For years, NASA has been hoping
to find an interstellar traveler
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because they could teach us
so much about faraway planets.
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Billions of years ago,
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the sun's gravitational pull made
bits of dust collide into each other,
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like making a snowball.
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Some of those bits got bigger and bigger
until they formed the planets,
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while the smaller leftover bits
became the asteroids.
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Because asteroids aren't protected
by an atmosphere,
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they don't have wind or rain
or storms to change them,
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which means they've been preserved
since they were formed.
which means they've been preserved
since they were formed.
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So, if we were able
to look at one up close,
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it could teach us about the materials
present billions of years ago
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that allowed the planets to form.
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We also believe that asteroids contain
the building blocks of life.
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So, this asteroid might even give us
important clues about how life began.
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{\an8}All that thanks to Charlie Brown?
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{\an8}What's the galaxy coming to?
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Wait. If we were able to
capture the interstellar traveler,
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it could have material on it that tells us
whether life exists somewhere else.
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Wow!
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That's right.
It would be an amazing breakthrough.
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Well, what are we waiting for?
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Let's snag us an asteroid.
47
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I love your enthusiasm, gang.
48
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But catching an asteroid
would be extremely difficult.
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We'll just have to come up with a plan.
50
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Excellent. Excellent.
Excellent. Excellent.
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Whoops. Looks like I need a quick reboot
to clear some computer cobwebs.
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This won't take long. Good luck, gang.
53
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I know!
54
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When I wanna catch butterflies,
I use a butterfly net.
55
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Okay. That's a good start.
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Unfortunately, it seems this asteroid
is much too big for a net.
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Okay, so maybe not a net.
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- What are other ways to catch something?
- I've got it.
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When cowboys wanna catch something,
they use a lasso.
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Yeehaw!
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Great idea.
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Even for a very skilled cowboy,
the asteroid would be way too fast.
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Yeehaw!
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I think I'd be more comfortable
with a different approach.
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Okay, not that either. What else?
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Everyone loves fishing.
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If you can catch a fish,
maybe you can catch an asteroid.
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Sure. Let's give it a shot.
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{\an8}Nets? Lassos? Fishing poles?
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{\an8}None of these silly ideas will ever work.
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You might be surprised, Lucy.
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All the methods NASA uses
started out as ideas.
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Even ones we take for granted today,
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like safely landing people on the moon
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or using robots to explore distant space.
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Good scientific practice involves testing
many different theoretical solutions,
Good scientific practice involves testing
many different theoretical solutions,
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no matter how wild
they might seem at the time.
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Hey!
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Of course! That's it.
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If we could send a craft
to orbit the asteroid,
81
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then we could use the grabbing action
of a robot arm to get a sample.
82
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We don't need the whole asteroid.
We could study a piece of it.
83
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That's a great idea, Franklin.
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Really?
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It'll take some time
to organize the logistics,
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but I'd say you've come up with
a fantastic plan.
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NASA will definitely be
putting this mission into place.
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What a terrific way to end the day.
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Yeehaw!
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Thanks for the idea, Snoopy.