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Last time:

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3, 2, 1, 0 –

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That's a double, yeah!

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That's the cooler star – yes! Yes!

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SISTINE and DEUCE launched
without a hitch.

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Woo!

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A perk of using sounding rockets
is they fall back to Earth

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so you can reuse the instruments.

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So, we're headed into the Outback
to find them.

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Luckily, wildlife in Australia
is known for being really friendly...

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Another creature of my nightmares.

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There’s some life biting me right now.
There he is – look at him!

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Oh my god, that’s worse than I thought.

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We're here in Australia and we're
going to launch some rockets!

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We're following two NASA rocket missions
as they try to understand

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how stars make the planets
around them suitable for life.

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I'm Miles Hatfield, and in this episode,
we're going to go find some stuff

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that just fell from space.

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The morning after each launch,
a team is sent out to recover the rocket and instruments.

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We just got word that we are 
going to be able to go on 

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one of the recovery flights
in the helicopters.

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So, we hopped out of bed and
we’re driving now to the Gove Airport.

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During flight,
the rocket breaks into four separate parts –

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each of which lands in a different location.

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The team is tasked with finding
and retrieving them all –

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and not letting the crocs
“retrieve” them along the way.

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Using math, maps and experience,
the recovery team leader

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Peter Elstner has a pretty good idea
of where each piece has landed.

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But winds can push the falling pieces off
track, making them difficult to find.

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The first thing we're looking for

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is one of the payloads, which houses
all the scientific instruments.

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Luckily, it's equipped with a bright
orange and white parachute,

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 which should help it stick out.

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Hmm, not there...

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Not there either...

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Nope, that's not it...

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There we go!

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Sure enough,
we spot it right where Peter predicted –

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and it looks like the parachute
gave it a nice soft landing.

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The nose cone was just a few miles away –
but its landing wasn't so soft.

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This is a wizard’s hat. 
Wizard’s hat.

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He’s not going to wear it.
No.

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The helicopter then carries
both the nose cone and payload

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back to the range,
before being shipped back to the U.S.

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Both SISTINE and DEUCE
have made several trips to space before.

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Now they're ready for retirement.
After some repairs

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and careful testing back home,
they’ll live out their days in the lab,

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helping calibrate new instruments
and analyzing laboratory data.

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With that done, we’re off to find
one of the second stage motors,

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which takes the payload
all the way to space.

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But unlike the payload, it doesn't get
a nice parachute to soften its landing.

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Yep, it's really in there!

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The team marks his location, and flies
back out the next day

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to dig it out of the ground.

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And then filling that hole right back in,
so as to leave as little trace as possible.

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The next day, I join
the recovery team on foot, as we hike out

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to find the first stage motor,
which didn't fall too far from the range.

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We were led by Micah and Boaz,

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two Dhimurru Rangers who knew the area.

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And how to recognize the animals
that could kill us.

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Snake!

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Dangerous or? 
Dangerous! That’s a king brown!

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Venomous.
Really.

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Hey, I didn't say it was a big snake.

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Now watching my feet
a little more carefully.

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Nice-size ant mound.

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Yeah, look at that guy – he’s cool!

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After about a half hour of hiking,
we finally found it.

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Wow, there it is!

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It may only burn
for the first six seconds after launch,

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but it still manages to get over
two and a half miles high.

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That's one heck of a fall.
Peter assessed the tools we’d need

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and then radioed in the
list to the helicopter.

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So, right now we're digging

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out the parts of the motor
that are lodged in the ground.

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1, 2, 3 –

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Nice! That thing’s heavy!

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That’s a fin!

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As we waited for the helicopter, Peter
gave an impromptu tutorial on rockets –

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with sound effects!

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Takes off – pow!

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Big parachute comes out.

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Blows over there.

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So, then we have to find it.

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I think we just got our explanation for the video
of how a sounding rocket works.

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As the recovery efforts
wrap up, it's time for us to head home.

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But for the science teams,

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things are just beginning.

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A year after launch, both teams are getting ready
to publish their results...

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but we convinced Kevin
to give us some hints ahead of time.

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Hi Miles, long time to talk –

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How are you doing?

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I’m good, mostly just eager to hear
about what you've learned!

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Yeah, so we've been taking a look at the SISTINE 
and DEUCE data and trying to compare that

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to the ultraviolet brightness of our Sun,

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and we're finding that
these Alpha Centauri stars are maybe

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two times brighter,
maybe two and a half times brighter,

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in the ultraviolet than our Sun.

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So what does that mean

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for the habitability of a planet around
stars like Alpha Centauri A and B?

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Would an Earth-like atmosphere survive
those sort of conditions?

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This probably means that
the upper atmospheres of planets around

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those types of stars

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are just going to be a little bit hotter
than what we have here on Earth.

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But, not to the point where the atmosphere
is rapidly evaporating

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and it’s changing its composition
drastically over time.

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I actually think this is pretty good news
for the ability of your average

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rocky planet around an average solar-type
star to hang on to its atmosphere

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and probably be a pretty good candidate
for the search for life.

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That's amazing!

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So, what about biomarkers, or signs of life,
on planets around stars like that?

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It looks like the biomarkers
that we would expect here on Earth –

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things like molecular oxygen, methane –
those all look like they're probably going

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to be pretty good on planets around stars
like Alpha Cen. as well.

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That sounds really promising.

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So,  how do you think these findings

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are going to impact the search
for habitable worlds going forward?

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So, that's a really good question, Miles.

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NASA has recently started
a new mission concept

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called the Habitable Worlds Observatory,

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and this is going to be the mission that
I think finally allows us to determine

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if we are alone in the universe
or if there are signs

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of active biology on planets
beyond the solar system.

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And I think what some of the results
from DEUCE and SISTINE are telling us

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is that orangish and yellowish stars are
probably going to be the best environments

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in which to look for life as we understand
it here in the solar system.

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That is so cool.

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Thanks for talking with me Kevin and
giving us this sneak peek at your results!

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Great to talk to you
too, Miles – see you next time!

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After this adventure with SISTINE and DEUCE,

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the night sky doesn't look
quite the same to me anymore.

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Hanging out with these rocket
teams has shown me that we're in a time

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like no other,
where our capabilities for discovery

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are starting to catch up
to our imaginations.

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Somewhere,

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orbiting a far-off star,

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is there another planet
brimming with life?

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Or is our habitable world
the only one that's actually inhabited?

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We've never been closer to finding out.