The New Frontier - Episode Guide

The sky above is studded with stars and countless galaxies. In them, we can read not only our origin, but also our final destination. Technology is on the brink of taking us to places we have only dreamed of.

The moon is our closest celestial companion. It lights our night sky and gently tugs at our shores. Few have walked on her surface, but her allure remains strong.

They orbit between our planet and our star. Mercury and Venus make up half of our terrestrial planets, but we still know very little about them. As we take a closer look at our companions, we find more questions than answers.

Mars has fired our imagination for thousands of years. The tantilizing possibility of life has made it the most inviting planet in our solar system. It is the only other place that man may one day call home.

From the beginnings of our solar system 4.5 billions years ago, there remain many clues to reveal its evolution. Remnant debris, asteroids, and comets are what's left of the building blocks to our celestial neighborhood.

In the cold, dark expanse of our solar system, beyond the asteroid belt, lie the giant planets. Some can be seen with the naked eye, others have been visited by our camera. What secrets do they hold?

There are many more worlds in our solar system than just the planets. The mysterious moons of the gas giants may hold much more than we ever imagined. Each one is unique, and each one deserves a scrutinous eye.

The sun bathes our planet in warmth and light. It powers the machinery of nature, our weather, and it encourages and sustains life on land and at sea. We study it closely, and it can reveal the secrets of all other stars.

As scientists and astronomers peer more closely and with ever more fidelity at nearby stars, they are discovering countless exo planets. How many Earth-like planets are out there? Could one of them hold life not so different from our own?

The night sky is a time machine. The further we look out into the universe, the further back in time we reach. Most of what we see is actually dark matter and dark energy, but its nature eludes us... for the moment.

Who are these people that venture into space? Once they were test pilots, then scientists and engineers. Now teachers, politicians and paying tourists can go to space! What does it take to earn the astronaut wings?

Take a look at the new surge in space transportation, with privately owned companies vying for government contracts and private entrepreneurs looking to build hotels in space.

Chances are, you are watching this program by satellite, one way or another. Every day we use these wonders of human design, from communication and weather observation, to GPS and recourse management. As time goes on, the need for these amazing machines grows and grows.

With low Earth orbit delegated to private companies, NASA is free to develop the deep space hardware for missions to Mars and beyond. The Orion space craft and SLS launch system are well on their way to delivering this capability.

Air, water, food, electricity, and fuel - all the essentials to explore the solar system. This episode explores the innovative plans for astronauts to grow their own food and extract water and fuel at their destinations.

NASA and others are developing new innovative propulsion systems, ion thrusters, and solar sails. The science fiction 'Warp drive' is not as far away as once thought.

The threat of an asteroid strike is a very real danger in our solar system. Mankind is now in a position to defend the planet from such an eventuality.

The Hubble Telescope is nearing its end. Its replacements are ready to go - ready to peer further back in time and space than ever imagined.

The past and the future of Earth and ourselves are revealed to us through the life cycle of stars.

There are many things that we don't know about the Universe, especially when it comes to dark matter and dark energy. See what Scientists continue to unveil as they devote so much time and effort to this study.

Astronauts and Cosmonauts train and study for years to work and live aboard the International Space Station. We have seen countless hours of their activities live on television and in the media. With this wealth of experience and insight behind them what do they think when they return to Earth? Without exception these space farers can not wait to get back into space.

The tenuous envelope of gas surrounding our planet is an unbelievably complex machine that protects us from the vacuum of space, shelters us from harmful radiation and allows us and the biosphere to breath; it is our atmosphere and we need to learn much more about it so we can better it.

New projects are advancing slowly, moving hardware into the testing phase, new designs, new capabilities. The next 12 months will see an intense rise in flight tests, demonstration launches and high priority flights some are on time others are not. We check the flight status of some of this new hardware and these new capabilities.

For over 50 years we have bombarded Mars with our probes and landers. Spying from orbit to map the terrain, finding her strengths and weaknesses. The time nearing for the full scale invasion of the planet- when humans walk on Mars and claim it for their own.

The Amazing Cassini spacecraft and its sibling lander, Huygens, have now concluded their scientific studies, bringing back years of data to be combed through by scientists, plotting their next journey to Saturn's space. Now, Juno piercing the cloak of Jupiter and her distant relative New Horizons at the edge of the solar system.

The Soviet Era Luna 3 was the first spacecraft to utilize gravity to change course to photograph the dark side of the Moon. The NASA Mariner 10 mission used the technique to swing by Venus to target Mercury. The gravity assist or sling shot maneuver has become a standard for navigating the solar system. With our probes reaching further, faster and more accurately than ever before.

We have been observing Earth for 40 years now, in the last 20 we have focus with intensity on the planet with new technologies and capabilities, we have accumulated a mass of data that is now revealing a complex and ever changing living planet.

Space is vast; yet it is full of collisions; gas and dust electrotatically flock together, gravity takes over coalescing grains into rocks, rocks into boulders then asteroids colliding again and again, striking planets and each other. Stars collide creating monsters of light and energy even galaxies collide over millions of years, space is a rough place to be.

We know it's there, and we usually pay it little mind. Gravity the all encompassing forces keeping us on the ground, and the planets in their orbits, yet we notice it when it's not there. In space we are merely cheating gravity; falling just as fast but missing the ground; an orbit and so called condition of micro gravity. Now this fundamental universal force is slowly giving up its secrets.

The interface between Earth and space is the Ionosphere, a region of rarified gas and charged particles. It is very important for radio communications, radar, satellite signals and global positioning. Yet we know so little about it especially when it disrupts all these signals in a regular fashion. Too high for planes or balloons, it's up to satellites to study this rarified region.

Satellites track climate change, revealing accelerated shifts in Earth's oceans and ice caps. Data supports urgent concerns.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Mission is on its way and will be shortly followed by Europe's Solar probe Mission. No spacecraft have traveled so fast or so close to a star before. The hope is to reveal the source of the solar winds that affect us here on Earth.

The commercial space flight companies are edging closer and closer to flight readiness. Paying customers will soon be launching into space; tourist revenue is projected to be a major stepping stone toward space exploration and colonization.

The ESA-JAXA Bepi-Colombo Mission is about to launch, aiming to explore the long-neglected Mercury and unveil new insights into its mysterious light and dark features.

The Japanese Asteroid Sample Return Mission has reached its target and is surveying the space rock, ready to dip down to acquire its sample. The return of asteroid material to Earth will aid scientists in the development in planetary defense systems.

Two new space telescopes, Gaia and TESS, are in orbit with their primary missions coming to a close. They will be joined by the James Webb Telescope, and together they will open up a whole new vista into time and space.

This is the latest in Martian exploration, not just from orbit but also from rovers on the ground. New sources of water and planetary dust storms are a few of the stories unfolding on the Red Planet.

Cubesats are miniature satellites that have been used exclusively in low Earth orbit for 15 years. Now, these tiny satellites are growing in mainstream popularity and are being used for interplanetary missions as well. They have even been sent to Mars with the Insight Mission, in hopes of better understanding the red planet, our solar system, and beyond.

The evidence to prove some of Einstein's theories had long been elusive, beyond the capabilities of technology, until now. It appears that Einstein is once again triumphant as we discover the latest in deep space observations.

We're looking hard, but the numbers aren't stacking up. Is life on other planets really that hard to find? Does it even exist? We have not discovered so much as a signal, so maybe we really are alone in our neck of the galaxy!

Sun science missions advance understanding of stars, solar winds, and planet effects, providing insights into other stars.

International effort accelerates lunar return for resource extraction from regolith and Martian soil.

New Earth observation satellites monitor rising temperatures, ocean levels, and alarming glacier melting rates.

Probes set to explore Venus, Earth's twin, seeking clues to its mysterious transformation from a hospitable planet to a hot, toxic environment.

ISS, the international space workhorse, faces replacement with new stations focusing on pure science and adding commercial interests like tourism and manufacturing.

Psyche spacecraft set to explore a metallic asteroid, Lucy heads to Jupiter's trojan asteroids, and DART tests technology to deflect dark asteroids.

Juice and Europa Clipper, two missions to study Jupiter's atmosphere and moons, especially Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede, for signs of potential life.

The James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion spacecraft, is operational, set to explore the furthest galaxies, study exoplanet atmospheres, and pose new questions.

With the IXPE high-energy telescope, we'll explore dramatic and violent cosmic events like colliding black holes and neutron stars, unveiling their hidden secrets.

SunRISE, SPHEREx, NEOS, and more projects aim to expand knowledge of Earth, space, and galaxies. New telescopes and tech will explore new worlds and extend our reach into space.