WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.899
[music]

2
00:00:02.900 --> 00:00:06.740
[Narrator] Scientists already know what the
universe looked like when it was a baby,

3
00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:08.160
[music]

4
00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.680
and they know what it looks like today.
What they don't know is how it looked in

5
00:00:12.690 --> 00:00:17.580
its adolescence. But scientists may finally get a glimpse at this unseen

6
00:00:17.580 --> 00:00:21.750
stage in the development of the universe from a revolutionary new technology

7
00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:27.300
being developed at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. An instrument on a chip.

8
00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:32.369
This new, potentially game-changing
instrument, called MicroSpec, is a

9
00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:36.660
far-infrared spectrometer that will be
10.000 times more sensitive and

10
00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:42.210
infinitely smaller than it's predecessor.
Normally the size of an office desk, this

11
00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:45.350
spectrometer can fit in the palm of your hand.

12
00:00:45.350 --> 00:00:49.559
Scientists use spectrometers to measure
properties of light to identify the

13
00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:54.040
composition and the physical properties
of the object being observed.

14
00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:59.219
[Stahle] And now we're able to integrate both the optics
which separates out the colors, what

15
00:00:59.219 --> 00:01:04.110
we're trying to measure, we're able to integrate them to very sensitive

16
00:01:04.110 --> 00:01:09.460
detectors all on a silicon wafer. That's the big innovation here.

17
00:01:09.460 --> 00:01:14.360
[Narrator} The MicroSpec instrument will be able to gather data from objects so distant from Earth that

18
00:01:14.369 --> 00:01:19.170
they no longer can be seen in the visible
light spectrum. [Moseley] By building an

19
00:01:19.170 --> 00:01:25.619
instrument like MicroSpec and studying
this era, where galaxies were beginning

20
00:01:25.619 --> 00:01:32.939
to form, gives us a very clear picture of
how the universe developed into the kind

21
00:01:32.939 --> 00:01:38.310
of place that can support life like us.
[Narrator] But in order to see these things clearly,

22
00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:42.869
the spectrometer must be cooled to
temperatures close to absolute zero so

23
00:01:42.869 --> 00:01:45.930
heat from the instrument will not
interfere with the incoming, faint

24
00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:51.840
infrared signal. [Moseley] We can get an
observation in 10 seconds with this cold

25
00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:56.440
telescope that would take a year with an ambient temperature telescope like the Hubble.

26
00:01:56.440 --> 00:02:02.940
So such a facility like that is really a
revolutionary capability.

27
00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:14.500
[beeping]