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SYNOPSIS

Rapid population growth, climate change and the depletion of natural resources have all put great strains on the Earth’s ability to sustain human life. Perhaps there will come a time in the distant future when some of us will be forced to search out new homes on our neighbouring planets. In Deadly Planets the viewer is taken on a journey through the solar system, investigating the hazards that might stand in the way of those explorers hoping to settle in alien worlds.

Part 1:

Our journey begins with Mercury, where close proximity with the Sun and lack of atmosphere mean that temperatures during the daytime can climb to a horrifying 350 degrees C but plummet to as low as -170 degrees C at night. Further out is Venus, once referred to as Earth’s ‘sister planet’. This epithet could hardly have been more misleading, as is demonstrated by David Grinspoon, who melts lead in a metal foundry to replicate the planet’s searing surface temperatures. However, life on Venus could exist in the cooler upper atmosphere, where conditions are not too dissimilar to those on Earth. The hope is that one day humans could visit this region, floating high up in the Venusian clouds.

Part 2:

Moving back past Earth we arrive at Mars. Professor Ron Greeley talks about its hazardous, fine, red dust. We learn of savage dust-storms that can engulf the entire planet and the potentially lethal effects that such incidents could have on human life-support systems. But anti-radiation drugs and shielding are being developed that could allow humans to safely populate the surface. As we leave the last of the inner rocky planets we enter the kingdom of the gas giants. Fran Bagenal discusses the gargantuan planet’s crushing pressure and the ‘Great Red Spot’, a storm twice the size of the Earth itself, which has been raging for at least 300 years.

Part 3:

If Jupiter’s gaseous make-up makes it virtually impossible for it to be inhabited by humans, what of its small rocky moons? NASA scientist, Dr Rosaly Lopes, reports from Hawaii’s lava fields to discuss one such moon, Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system. She tells us of its bubbling lakes of lava, the size of Arizona, and plumes of ash that shoot up hundreds of miles into space. Next we stop at Saturn, whose beautiful ring system belies its violent nature. Dr Kevin Grazier tells us of the dangers we would face here, including vicious lightning storms that span an area the size of the USA and can rage for weeks on end. As we push on from here, passing the featureless ice-giant, Uranus, we move out towards the last major planet in the Solar System.

Part 4:

Dr Heidi Hammel has been studying Neptune for many years. One of the aspects that most interests her is its colossal wind speeds, the fastest in the Solar System. Neptune’s clouds have been recorded to move at up to 1200 mph, which is about ten times the speed of a typical hurricane on Earth. Findings on Neptune’s wind systems can be applied to Earth models of our own weather systems, potentially helping us to predict storms on Earth. Extreme records are also broken on Triton, one of Neptune’s moons, which holds the title of the coldest place in the Solar System. Here temperatures average a chilling -235 degrees Celsius. Dr John Spencer from the Southwest Research Institute conducts an experiment to demonstrate one of Triton’s most bizarre phenomena, liquid nitrogen geysers that burst high into the moon’s thin atmosphere.

Part 5:

We’ve witnessed some incredibly harsh environments on our journey through our own Solar System, most of which would make human habitation on these planets impossible. But what if we developed the technology to travel further afield? Planet-hunting scientist, Geoff Marcy, devotes his life to discovering planets orbiting stars millions of light years from our own. Deadly Planets closes with a look at extra-solar systems, where planets orbit their stars at unfathomable speeds and proximities, harbouring environments that must far outstrip those of our planetary neighbours in their savageness. But Marcy hopes to one day discover an Earth-like planet, where human survival may one day be possible. This is Marcy’s goal and his dreams could one day be our reality.

ASPECT RATIO 4.3
MAIN SOUNDTRACK English Stereo
DISC FORMAT DVD 5
REGION 1 NTSC
CLASSIFICATION Exempt
NOTE Not available for shipment outside the USA

Runtime: 54 minutes