What happens when we find life outside our own planet? Discovery Channel
brings viewers on a virtual mission of the future. Right now, the
search for planets with "life signatures" goes on. These efforts are
global, and experts tell us on camera how this search for life is
progressing around the world. No longer just the domain of science
fiction, what could alien life really look like? Alien Planet dramatizes
an exciting — and possible — answer.
The drama takes place on
Darwin IV, a fictional planet 6.5 light-years from Earth, with two suns
and 60 percent gravity. Having identified Darwin as a world that could
support life, Earth sends a pilot mission consisting of the mothership
Von Braun and three probes: Balboa, Da Vinci and Newton. This unmanned
fleet is responsible for finding and assessing any life-forms on Darwin
IV. Initially, the expectation is to find microscopic life, but the
probes soon find themselves in the middle of a developed ecosystem
teeming with life of all sizes.
The viewer experiences Darwin IV
through the "eyes" of the probes Ike (Newton) and Leo (Da Vinci), whose
data is relayed back to the mothership and then communicated to Earth.
The biological and atmospheric data from the probes and mothership are
relayed to viewers through computer voice simulation and on-screen
readouts.
Real scientists consider data in this planetary
environment. They discuss the larger issues of the possibilities of life
outside our solar system and deconstruct the animals on Darwin IV,
basing the analysis on the laws of evolution and physics. Where
possible, life-size animal images and the real probe prototypes will
help the audience to understand the current, real basis of the search
for other planets. Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku and other big thinkers
and scientists will participate in the discussion of where science is
today. Other participants include Jack Horner, Craig Venter, George
Lucas and NASA's chief scientist, Jim Garvin.
The drama on
Darwin IV is motivated by real science missions, such as the NASA
Origins Program and the NASA/JPL Planet-Finder Mission, as well as the
European Space Agency's Darwin Project. The Discovery Channel's founder,
John Hendricks, recently announced that Discovery is helping to fund a
planet-finding telescope, at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Rooted in real-life endeavors, scientists have designed the planet of
Darwin IV (which lies in a known star system), the probes and
spacecraft, as well as the various life-forms found.
