Case Of The Inhabitable Habitat

[Music] hi i'm jack hannah and i work with some of the world's most interesting and exciting animals some are cute and cuddly and some are scary and dangerous if you really want to learn more about animals and how they behave you need to learn about the world in which they live their habitat stay tuned to learn about habitats on this episode of the nasa hawaii files the case of the inhabitable habitat here we go hey you hear me [Music] we [Music] so come join us on our journey don't you touch that down and welcome to the nasa wifi join the treehouse detectives on their latest project you can help by answering the following questions why is mars called the red planet what is a habitat and what are the basic needs of plants don't forget when you see this nasa y-files logo the answer is near [Music] haley hey kelly wait up jacob what are you doing here i hope you're not thinking of going swimming in those clothes forget about swimming you've got to get back to the tree house we're starting a new project and you're not going to believe what it is come on let's go but i really wanted to catch some fish i've been trying for several days and i haven't caught any i wonder if there's a problem with the water forget about the fish we're going to build a habitat for mars how long have you been in the sun jacob i think you need some rest i'm fine but we better get back to the tree house come on okay but i wonder what's wrong with the fish i'm ted toon and kids science news network is interrupting this broadcast for an exciting bulletin the young astronauts are at it again this time with a contest that's out of this world for details we go to our spaced out correspondent i am listening who's live on is this right she's live on mars yes but how is my lipstick going to show if everything is red i just don't what what we're on we're on that's right ted mars i'm here live on the red planet an entirely new environment with new and exciting challenges perhaps the greatest challenge being simply to survive do you have what it takes to build a model of a mars habitat if so visit the nasa y-files website for all the details and get to work be the first kid on your block to discover what life is really like on mars back to you ted [Music] yes well that was i am listening on mars this is ted tune back here on planet earth signing off [Music] awesome can you imagine living on the planet mars for a year i don't know it seems great but don't you think living on another planet can be very difficult if i can live with my sister then living on mars should be really easy hi jacob hi kaylee did you guys have any luck at the beach i haven't caught a single fish for weeks something's definitely wrong but i can't figure out what it is that seems strange what's in the box jacob i brought some stuff from home for a mars model have you heard about our latest project yeah jacob told me all about it how are we going to build a habitat for mars check this out this will be our recreation module it'll contain a ping pong table air hockey table and a garage space for you guys are getting ahead of yourselves do we even know we will need to live on mars remember what we learned to the invention contest we need to do a lot of research and designs before we can actually build a model she's right that's called the editor process so where should we start hey snn said there's a lot of information on the project on the nasa y files website i'm on that website right now what's it say first the habitat must meet the basic needs to sustain human life on mars and the model must be divided into three separate sections also the habitat maturities sunlight as a major source of energy and experiments must be planned for both the trip and for mars wow sounds complicated so where do we begin we begin with the scientific method or scientific inquiry i know we use the scientific method to solve other mysteries but how are we going to use it to build a model it doesn't matter whether you're solving a mystery or building a model the scientific method is a great tool to use i'm sure we can talk to a lot of experts at nasa about mars in space and fish maybe we'll talk to someone who knows about fish habitat and they can explain why i haven't caught any lately great let's go to the problem board [Music] we know we need to build a habitat because they're staying live from ours what do we need to know we need to know what mars is like yeah is it hot or cold and is there anything there we can eat it's kind of like planning for a vacation i don't think that going to mars is quite like a vacation but you're right we have to know a little bit about the place we're going so where do we start i'll bet nasa knows lots of information on mars i'll check out the nasa langley research center's website they've done a lot of research on mars great we should go through the library and check out some books on mars i have some books on planets and solar systems at home i might even have an m encyclopedia in my bookbag can't be serious well you never know when you need an encyclopedia nasa had several unmanned missions to mars i'm sure they'll have a lot of experts with their help this project will be easy yup here it is it says here that the average temperature is minus 23 degrees celsius i thought it would be hot it only looks hot because of its right color it's farther away from the sun than we are we'll have to make sure our habitat has a big heater one heavy duty heater coming up actually the average is minus 23 degrees celsius the low is minus 140 degrees celsius the high is 20 degrees celsius you're right catherine there are a lot of articles about mars on the nasa website here's one about amara's plane by dr levine he's my mom's friend maybe we can email him and see if he can help us turn off the get up and go shoot for us to take with us you can go to the nasa wifi's website on the research track and print out your own sheet i'd love to talk to dr levine about mars great let's get up and go hi are you mr levine yes i am and you must be the treehouse detectives i understand you want to learn more about planet mars that's right we're designing a habitat that will sustain life of marx so we figured we needed to learn more about the red planet well you've come to the right place mars is a very inhospitable planet and you must be prepared what's it like on mars let's take a look mars is a very different planet than the earth no trees no flowers no animals mars is a very desolate planet why do they call it the red planet the surface of mars contains large amounts of rusty iron that give mars its reddish color in addition strong winds blow surface material up in the atmosphere giving the atmosphere a reddish pink color does mars have land features like earth yes mars has lowlands mountainous highlands mars has the largest volcano in the solar system and mars has the longest canyon in the solar system i've seen the grand canyon here on earth and it was pretty big oh it's far bigger than the grand canyon marinara's valley on mars is about 3 000 miles long about the same distance as a trip from new york to los angeles what kind of atmosphere does mars have the atmosphere of mars is very thin it's cold and it's dry the atmosphere of mars is only about 1 200th the thickness of the earth's atmosphere is there oxygen like here on earth no in fact the atmosphere of mars is 95 carbon dioxide 3 nitrogen and 2 argon we'll definitely need to bring our own oxygen how do we know so much about mars over the last 30 years nasa has sent a number of spacecraft to mars to study the planet here at the nasa langley research center we're looking into the possibility of sending the first robotic airplane to mars that would be so cool would you like to see what our plane will look like flying through the atmosphere of mars that would be great check this out [Music] wow [Music] thanks dr levine you've given us a lot to consider better habitat you're welcome anytime hey guys how was dr levine he was great you wouldn't believe all the missions nasa is sent to mars i went through the detail from the get up and goshi into the computer that's a good idea wait till you guys read about what we learned i had no idea mars was so different from earth not only was it much colder but the atmosphere is almost all carbon dioxide so you can't breathe any of it at all there is also no food or drinking water on the planet it doesn't sound very inviting it sounds like we have a lot of things to consider before we design our habitat first we need to decide what we need to bring exactly and to do that we have to know what makes the habitat donkey katherine and i are going on vacation to discovery cove in orlando florida i'm sure they have lots of information on habitat i'll email and see if we can meet with some of the experts on habitats while we're down there and anthony and i can do some more research i bet we'll do lots of research and we'll start getting some materials together so we can design our habitat i bet the researcher there will help me figure out why the fish are missing from the bay we better print out a couple of those get up and go sheep wow this park is really cool i can't believe there's so many different habitats i know we've seen the stingray pool of the bird aviary and the coral reefs hi kids my name is laura you must be the treehouse detectives how can i help you today yes we are we need to learn more about habitat we've come to the right place discovery cove has over seven habitats and we have over 300 species represented here wow that's a lot of different habitats what exactly is a habitat well a habitat is an environment that provides the basic necessities to sustain life things like food water and even shelter what are some different types of habitats different habitats or things like our tropical reef habitat we even have a stingray lagoon but out in the wild things like the desert uh forests and even ponds okay we know that habitats meet the basic needs but is there anything else that makes them different well sure the types of animals and plants that actually live within the habitat make all the difference in the world um you might consider animals that live in a tropical reef totally different than something that lives in a rainforest but even within a rainforest you're going to have different habitats like the canopy or even the floor of the forest different animals will live in different areas depending on what they need to eat what types of predators live in the area how they're capable of climbing or even flying we've noticed that there are no fish in the bay back home could it be because they moved to a different habitat yes fish will move throughout their lifetime depending on their needs they may move for feeding or even for their breeding behavior i have a friend that works with signals of spring he works with sea turtles and studies their migratory patterns maybe he could help you with your fish problem that would be great could you email us his damon number sure i could and if you want to experience a really different habitat you'll have to swim with the dolphins we can swim with the dolphins that's awesome come on i'll show you our dolphin cover [Applause] oh hey guys that looks pretty good what is it after we got your email about basic needs we decided we'd better get back to the basics so we were working on building three different modules to provide the basic needs of air food water and shelter but we're having some problems just doesn't seem to work to have the three modules separated according to my calculations we probably need three modules just to store enough food and water to survive we should call dr d he'll be able to help besides i wanted to talk to him about the fish problem too hello hello dr d this is bianca hi bianca how can i help you we were wondering if you could help us with our latest project we're trying to build a habitat on mars sure come on over right now i'm working on my terrarium maybe we can help each other great we'll be right over bye bye-bye hi thank you hi guys is that the terrarium that you mentioned on the phone yes it is a terrarium is a clear container filled with small plants this lens is open to the atmosphere but mine is going to be tightly closed it's really tricky to maintain all the basic needs of plants after i close it up we learned about the needs of humans and animals they include water shelter food and air what are the basic needs of plants i'm sure they need water and they need food that's right the most basic food of plants is the carbon dioxide in the air and plants also need sunlight you bet if my terrarium is gonna be successful it must meet all these needs hey i understanding a model for a habitat from ours we're having a little trouble getting started the best place to get started is to understand your problem by gathering information do you mean like the scientific method that's right so what do you know about the atmosphere of mars we know that it's mostly made up of carbon dioxide and hardly any oxygen that's right and not only that but the martian atmosphere is much less dense than the earth's atmosphere so in addition not having any oxygen to breathe there's yet another difficulty well what do you mean let me show you with this vacuum [Music] peter touch this water what does it feel like it's warm but it's not very hot i'm gonna put this water underneath the bell jar and the vacuum pump's gonna pull most of the air out of the belt let's see what happens wow the water's starting to boil does that mean it's hot let's find out [Music] it's even cooler than before that's right the wider didn't well because it was hotter it turns out when the atmosphere is less dense water will just blow at a much lower temperature on mars you can have ice or water vapor but any liquid water will simply boil away or freeze i guess our habitat had better have a denser atmosphere than mars thanks doctor d oh and by the way i'm concerned about why the fish are missing from my favorite fishing spot maybe you should have the water test i also want to contact ranger cortez at sandy bottom park may be able to help you thanks dr d bye so what's up is mars too harsh an environment for exploration will the treehouse detectives be able to take enough food to mars what happened to the fish in the bay find out in the next exciting chapter of the case of the inhabitable [Music] in habitat two of the case of the inhabitable habitat you'll discover what is a food web what is transpiration and why does nasa want students to grow plants [Music] hello ranger cortez hi kaylee dr d said you might be coming over for a visit today what can i help you out with i'm concerned about the fish in the bay no one has caught any for a long time i'm trying to figure out what's happened to them well what do you think happened to them i think it might be because they don't have enough food to eat that's possible have you checked to see if anything happened to disrupt the food web what's a food web organisms live together in an area are called a community members of the community depend on each other for survival this dependent is called the food web how do they depend on each other in a typical community you'll find producers consumers and decomposers plants and algae are producers they take the energy from light and use that to convert carbon dioxide water and minerals into food this process is called photosynthesis what are consumers organisms that eat other organisms are called consumers there are three different kinds of consumers do you know what they are i think that one is a herbivore they eat plants and one is a carnivore they eat other animals that's right an omnivore is a consumer that eats both plants and animals i guess that makes me an omnivore you can see how they all depend on each other if plants didn't exist the herbivores would have nothing to eat and they would not survive if the herbivores didn't survive then the carnivores wouldn't have anything to eat that's right you catch on quick what are decomposers in order for a community to be successful there must be a way to return the minerals and other basic ingredients back to the producers decomposers do this how do they do that decomposers bacteria and fungi feed on dead producers and consumers and convert them back to the basic materials needed by producers to grow and reproduce it's a cycle that's correct now what you might want to do is take a look at the ocean and see if there's anything that happened to disrupt the cycle of the food web that's a great idea thanks oh by the way would you mind taking a couple of plants to dr d for me the fur is terrarium sure no problem great hey look what i brought you terrific what are you brought to me from my terrarium yeah ranger cortez from sandy bottom park said you would like them thank you [Music] my terraria is coming along pretty good i'm being very careful to only put plants and they only require the same conditions can you tell us more about how a terrarium works sure my salad terraria must be self-sufficient the only thing that can come into the terrarium is light we already learned that light is the basic need of plants water is recycled in a terrarium plants give off water which collects on the plastic runs down inside into the soil where it's collected by the roots and recycled wow that's pretty neat i already talked about how the plants basically just carbon dioxide plants consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen what replaces the carbon dioxide so the plants don't die well animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide but obviously there aren't any animals in there that's true but there are decomposers in the soil like bacteria and fungi they also consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen they also break down dead materials and produce the nutrients that the plants need it looks like everything gets recycled turns out the plants use some oxygen to produce the energy they need and give off carbon dioxide in the process this is called respiration fortunately plants produce much more oxygen than they consume i'm glad about that there's a lot going on in that terrarium it would be great if we could make our mars habitat as self-sufficient as your terrarium yeah just add sunlight we've got to get going we've got a lot of work to do yeah bye dr d bye [Music] i don't think this is working can't take enough food with us we need to find a food source a food web ranger cortez did say that the food web is important but how are we going to create a food web on mars maybe there's a problem with the food web in the bed maybe pollution upset it that should be my hypothesis if pollution upset the food web in the bay then the fish would leave people create habitats all the time like discovery cove or even dr d's terrarium they all have food webs that's true all we really need to do is find a way to create food in our habitat maybe we can grow food on mars yeah and plants create oxygen we need air lots of it guys we don't even know if plants can grow in space we need to do some more research the problem board okay [Music] we know that all plants and animals have basic needs and that they all rely on the food web we also know that plants play a major part in the food web so we need to know can we grow plants in space anthony can check the internet i found something that might help us mr john grinner at the johnson space center is working with plants at the international space station let's style them up and ask them about growing plants in space hi kids i'm mr gruner how can i help you hi mr gruener we're the treehouse detectives and we're trying to design a martian habitat we realize that we have to grow our own food on mars yeah because we don't want to go hungry and we need to know if plants grow differently in space than they do here on earth well sort of but plants still need the basics like light air water nutrients and a nice temperature and humidity know that mars is extremely cold and that it doesn't have the same atmosphere as earth does that mean that we can't grow anything on mars no it just means you'd have to grow them indoors in a controlled environment how do you do that well here at nasa we design plant growth chambers or systems to meet the plants basic needs kind of like this one here do you have to use special seeds to make the plants grow in space no we use the same seeds as we do here on earth however we do conduct experiments and collect data to see what effect low gravity and increased radiation has on the way plants produce seeds why is that important we want to make sure that plants can reproduce in space this will help astronauts who live there for a long time can the seeds produced on mars grow here on earth yes and they're able to germinate and grow in the new plants just fine do you only use plants in space for food no we also hope to use plants to produce oxygen and water that is so cool during a process called photosynthesis plants take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen we breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide exactly so you see plants and people can live very well together trading gases okay i understand that but how do they produce water through a process called transpiration what's transpiration well when a plant transpires it releases water through tiny holes called pores that are mostly found in the leaves and then the water evaporates into the atmosphere and we can collect it and turn it back into liquid water on a cold surface oh you mean just like the water droplets on the outside of my glass of ice water that's right it's called condensation i guess it is important to be able to produce water and oxygen since it takes a long time to get to mars you bet it is it would be very expensive to send space vehicles to resupply the habitat [Music] therefore it is very important for the habitat to be as self-sufficient as possible what kind of plants are you growing in your lab we are currently experimenting with grains like wheat and rice legumes like peas and peanuts potatoes fruits and salad crops i love salads that's good because right now there are no plants to produce any meat i don't like just vegetables well don't get too discouraged meat will still be available in packaged form but in small quantities however there are still lots of good foods you can make with fruits and vegetables like what well like peanut butter from peanuts jelly from strawberries tortillas from wheat and potato chips from potatoes you could even make tomato sauce from tomatoes for pizza or spaghetti now you're talking that's my kind of meal and just like here on earth the most important thing is to eat a balanced and nutritious diet that's true my mom always tells me that would you like to see us harvest some carrots from our chambers yes good luck with your project kids i can't believe they actually grow plants in space for food and oxygen we definitely need to grow plants in our habitat i read on the internet that some experiments on the iss are done by kids we should check it out and see if anybody on the nasa wi-fi kids club grew control plants maybe we could grow our own plants for the model it would have to be pretty small to fit in our model mrs schwartz class at kent mill elementary school in silver springs maryland participated check it out hi i'm bowie i am in ms schwartz's 4th grade class at temple elementary school in silver spring maryland hi we've been on the internet that you're participating in a nasa project with species yes we are growing arabidopsis plants what are aridopsis plants they are more commonly known as mustard meat it has a life cycle of six weeks from seed to seed it is easy to grow in small places also it produces a lot of seeds that makes it a great test plant to be grown in space how do you get space seeds we participate in a nasa experiment through a company called space explorers inc they get the seeds from nasa and distribute teachers who have signed up for the program why does nasa want children to grow the space leaves on earth whenever you are doing an experiment you have to have a control group we grow the plant of the control group for the experiment on the international space station we learned about controls from the scientific method we measure the plants as they grow and keep accurate records this gives nasa a reference point of normal growth and reproduction to compare with the plants grown on the international space station why is that important scientists need to make sure that the plants are growing and producing just like they do on earth is there anything else that the plants do for the astronauts in space yes they create a bioregenerative life support system what is that it's a system that uses plants rather than machines the plants release oxygen help recycle drinking water and create water vapor through transpiration just like mr gruner mentioned we definitely need a bioregenerative system in our habitat thanks for helping us you're welcome and good luck on your project that is so cool so we know we can grow plants as a source of food and oxygen nasa sure is doing a lot of research i'm living and working in space my mom and i are going down to johnson space center in houston maybe while i'm down there i can do some more research i've never been to johnson i'd like to check it out okay i'll call my mom and see if you can go with us so what's up will living on mars require any special training what will bianca and anthony learn at johnson space center did pollution kill all the fish in the bay don't leave the planet stick around for the next segment of the case of the inhabitable habitat [Music] pay close attention and you'll learn the following what is the kc-135 used for what is neutral buoyancy and what does a spacesuit protect astronauts from [Music] hey guys hey rj what in the world is that you mean what in the mars is that actually it's a badminton set this is pretty heavy how are you going to play badminton with this well you see there's less gravity on mars so the racket needs to be heavier this is part of the experiments we're going to be doing on mars well we could be the first ones to play badminton on mobs exactly oh how's the fish problem going it's good i heard back from the epa that's the environmental protection agency they said that there is no pollution in the water and that it's the normal temperature for this time of year so i'm still confused don't worry i'm sure you'll figure it out hey guys casein in his own well ladies and gentlemen i've been told that i am listening was not actually on mars yesterday but was participating in a simulation of living on mars for this stunt i mean experiment she has now been sealed in a simulated martian habitat where she will experience what it will be like for astronauts to live on another world we join her now for a live report i am how's it going ted you've got to help me get out of here i'm down to a packet of tang and two stalks of celery i cannot take this anymore but you've only been in there for 15 minutes and you had enough food for a week ted help me ted there you have it folks it looks like it's going to take more effort than locking a reporter in a closet to figure out how to live on mars i'm ted toon for ksnn you know living in space would be quite an adjustment i read that astronauts had to train to go to space i wonder if we'd have to train to live on mars of course you don't just go seven eight million kilometers without training i wonder how you train looks like it's time for a trip to the problem board we know that we have to build a habitat on mars and we know that plants and animals have basic needs we also know that there are lots of different habitats but they're all basically the same also the food web is important to all habitats and plants can be used as a food source in space we need to know how people train to live in space for a long time where should we go i saw earlier on the computer the dr textbook has a show about how people learn to live in space let's check it out here's dr textbook with an exciting look into the history of living in space hello well today we're going to learn about one of man's greatest challenges living in space for centuries people have adjusted to different living conditions but none so drastic as going from the surface of our planet into outer space leaving the pool of earth's gravitational force requires training and discipline nasa astronauts use sophisticated simulators and machines to prepare themselves to leave earth's gravity you experience the same feeling while riding on a roller coaster or even while spinning on a merry-go-round once you've entered space however everything changes you've left earth's gravitational force behind you and you've now entered the microgravity zone in a microgravity environment you must be able to work right side up or upside down doing this on earth can be slightly uncomfortable but in space there is no up or down it feels the same no matter which way you hang also in microgravity simple tasks like eating are very challenging in the early days of space flight astronauts relied on orange powdered drink mix and freeze-dried now they enjoy a variety of full-course meals of course life in space does have its benefits on earth these weights are difficult to lift but if i let go of them in space they simply stay put not a very good idea poor doctor textbook he didn't seem to adapt i guess the fish haven't been able to adapt very well either or they'd still be swimming in the bay maybe that should be my new hypothesis if the fish can't adapt to their new environment then they will leave the bed but why wouldn't they be able to adapt i guess i need to do some more research adapting seems like a difficult process let's go after dr d you can probably tell us yeah good idea come on hi daddy oh hi guys how's your project going it's going well but we still need to learn more about training and adapting to living in space i'll give you an example about adapting here on earth when astronomers go to work at the observatories on top of mauna kea and hawaii which is almost 14 000 feet above sea level they have to adapt to a new environment but if it's on earth why do they have to adapt that very high elevation there's much less oxygen than here at sea level in order to adapt these watermelons go part way up the mountain to about 9000 feet it's been about 24 hours there at this elevation where the conditions are not quite as extreme what happens if they don't these fly numbers might get altitude sickness if they take this time to let their bodies get used to less oxygen might not suffer such symptoms as headaches or severe tiredness when they get to the top of the mountain that's really interesting let's play a little game to see if you can adapt to a new environment are we going to climb a mountain no i'm going to put you in a mirror-image environment what you have to do is trace this star looking in the mirror just stay between the lines this looks really easy i want to go first go ahead and give it a try wow i can't move my hand this is really strange i bet i could do much better it's harder than it looks [Music] all right let me try it again all right go ahead let's start it's easier this time it's still hard but i'm able to do it better this time after learning how to adapt to this new environment you might want to learn more about how people train to live in space where should we go i don't know you might check out the nasa website if anyone knows they should thanks drd bye bye [Music] jacob what are you doing i'm testing my new mars pogo stick i don't think your pogo stick is going to work very well on mars why not remember the case of the challenging flight we learned about newton's first wall that's right an object in motion stays in motion until a force act upon see jacob if you jumped on your pogo stick in mars you'd end up in space not necessarily i did a little research i found out that the apollo astronauts jumped all over the moon and the moon has one sits the gravity of earth that's less than mars which is one-third but the apollo astronauts had suits that weighed 350 pounds that's why they jump very high that means that on the moon it would weigh about 58 pounds or 116 on mars wow he's good at math so i might be able to use my pogo stick well you could but i wouldn't unless i did a lot more research hey guys i just got an email from mr del rosso he can tell us how astronauts train to live in space [Music] hi i'm dom del rosso test director with nasa's reduced gravity airplane how can i help you we need to learn more about astronauts and how they live and work in space well they train in many different ways one of the ways is aboard our kc-135 the weightless wonder why do you call it the weightless wonder the kc-135 is an airplane we can use to simulate the free fall of zero gravity so the astronauts can experience weightlessness how do you stimulate weightlessness in an airplane well we fly a series of huge arcs in the sky we call parabolas it's kind of like riding a giant roller coaster in the sky i learned about parabolas and math and i love roller coasters well then you would love the kc-135 we started at an altitude of about 24 000 feet and climbed to make an arc when the plane reaches the top of the arc at about 33 000 feet it dives back towards the earth anyone inside the airplane is also falling at the same rate that we're diving this causes the people to float around inside that's really cool do they float for very long not really only for about 20 or 25 seconds in zero g however we can change the parabola to simulate either the gravity of moon or mars and they last a little bit longer so how does this help the astronauts to train for space well it gives the astronauts a chance to see how their bodies will react and adapt to weightlessness as well as give them a chance to practice with their experiments before they fly we can also use it to verify and help design new hardware for the astronauts to use later on i get sick when i ride roller coasters do people ever get sick on the kc-135 well yes occasionally an astronaut will get sick and that's why sometimes people call it the vomit comet but it doesn't happen all that often thanks mr del rosso this really helped you're welcome and good luck on your project goodbye mr del rosso wow it'd be pretty cool to float in space unless you got sick you'd have to have a pretty strong stomach to be an astronaut you have to have a pretty strong stomach to train speaking of training i just got an email from bianca and anthony down at johnson space center they're going to talk to mr utley at the neutral buoyancy laboratory i think that's where they train for space walks well the neutral buoyancy laboratory sounds a lot easier than the vomit comic i hope they don't get sick i never thought a laboratory would have a swimming pool neither i wonder what they do here i'm glad you asked you two must be the treehouse detectives yes we are well my name is mr utley and this is the neutral buoyancy laboratory or nbl we use this tank to simulate a weightless environment just like you'd see in space it sure is big just how big is it the nbl is 202 feet long it's 102 feet wide and 40 feet deep that means it holds just over 6.2 million gallons of water that's as big as 12 olympic-sized swimming pools all put together wow that is big why do you need such a big tank i mean laboratory well the international space station components are really big so we need to have an environment that was big enough to be able to have astronauts practice putting all the components together how did the astronauts train in the nbl well instructors coach the astronauts on tasks and techniques in space walks that they're going to have to do while living and working in orbit space walks why would they need to walk in space well sometimes astronauts have to go outside of their space home to do such things as assemble the space station or even fix the hubble space telescope is there anything else they do in the nbl yes as a part of spacewalk training they train on tasks like connecting power supplies deploying radiators deploying solar arrays or even changing batteries changing batteries that doesn't sound very hard why do you have to train for such easy jobs it may sound easy but working in space is very challenging there is no up or down and so objects may not be in the same orientation they were in when they were training here in the mbl at least all the heavy stuff doesn't weigh as much as it does on earth well actually even though it's weightless in orbit objects still have their mass so you have to be very careful about moving a large object quickly because it will build up momentum so astronauts have to train to be able to move things very slowly and deliberately this is a lot more complex than we thought why do you use water we create a weightless environment by using the principle of neutral buoyancy what is neutral buoyancy well neutral buoyancy is when an object has the same tendency to float as it does the sink and that just hovers in the water and that is the same property as being weightless on orbit so you can take 190 pound astronaut put them into a 200-pound spacesuit pressurize the suit and add weights to the chest back and arms and legs just so that they're hovering around in the water that gives them the same reactive forces that they would have in orbit so when you push yourself away from something your body is going to continue to float away from it if the suit weighs 200 pounds how do you get them out of the pool actually we're taking the astronauts out of the water right now wow those suits are awesome if you really want to know more about spacesuits you should talk to dr ross here at johnson space center that would be great i'll give her a call let her know you're coming thanks mr utley bye [Applause] [Music] hi miss ross i'm bianca and this is anthony hi it's nice to meet you both i understand from mr utley that you want to learn more about the spacesuits that astronauts wear wow do astronauts really have to wear all this stuff yes they do the spacesuit protects astronauts from the extreme environment of space we know they need a spacesuit for oxygen but what else does it protect them from it protects them from things like extreme temperatures very small meteoroids orbital debris and radiation wow i know space is so dangerous the spacesuit looks big it is big and when an astronaut wears it it inflates like a balloon to make it even larger why does it inflate in space there's no air pressure and without air pressure the astronaut's blood would boil that doesn't sound good no it's not so the spacesuit provides the air pressure the body needs to keep that from happening what are these these are the astronauts long johns they keep the astronaut cool while he or she works in space how does it do that their little tubes woven into the long johns water flows through the tubes keeping the asteroids cool there are some days i wish i had one of these is that what i think it is yes it is it's called a mag for maximum absorbency garment do astronauts really have to wear that yes spacewalks can last up to eight hours and that's a long time to go without a bathroom break that's for sure i couldn't go that long neither can the astronauts and they are working with billions of dollars of equipment they need to be able to concentrate in order to do their job correctly and you can't concentrate if you have to go to the bathroom do you make these spacesuits miss ross no nasa hires a company to actually make the spacesuits my primary job is to test and evaluate the suit so that i can design better spacesuits we learned all about that from our invention contest it's called the iterative process it sounds like you've tested evaluated data and redesigned yourselves do astronauts have to wear different suits for different jobs sometimes for example joe coswell and i worked with a company called ilc to build a better spacesuit glove why did they need a better glove to build space station the glove was a phase six and i made sure it was ready to use in space did it really work yes it did the glove was used on the first american space station construction mission sts-88 that is so cool to know that you actually helped the astronauts build the space station i might do that someday yes you might keep up the hard work thanks miss ross we learned a lot you're welcome and good luck on your martian habitats thanks bye bye [Music] so what's up is the treehouse getting a little messy did the fish migrate from the bay stick around and get all the facts in the final segment of the case of the inhabitable habitat [Music] in the conclusion of the case of the inhabitable habitat you'll be asked how are space trash cans different how can space trash be dangerous and what is migration [Music] you only have one more module to go the research module connects with the greenhouse this is really cool i think i could live there for a while anyway it's almost as nice as the iss model we saw in houston we did a good job guys we did i wonder what kind of experiments we'll do in our research module well i've decided to focus on recreational space i think we should look into badminton on mars we're pogo stick as a possible transportation but first we need to experiment on how to get rid of all this trash i guess it has gotten a little messy in here i wonder what they do at trash in space i don't think they have garbage trucks on mars i bet mrs ross knows someone who could help us i'll contact her and see who we should call and while you do that we need to get rid of all this trash make sure you put the paper and plastic into the recycling bin [Music] wow this looks much better i never thought building a model would create so much trash i hope it doesn't get that bad on the iss guys look i found someone who can help us with trash in space hi i'm lisa polanski and i work on the international space station program at the johnson space center what can i do for you today we were wondering how you take out the trash in space on the space station the astronauts have trash cans like we do on earth except they have a few differences what kind of differences when you're in a weightless environment the trash has a tendency to float out of the cans so we have special openings to keep it inside and this way it doesn't bother the astronauts cash is bad enough sitting on the ground i wouldn't want it flying around everywhere actually the astronaut attached the can to the wall so it doesn't float away at home i used to three eyes reduce reuse and recycle do astronauts use these in space actually there's not a whole lot to recycle on the international space station we try to reduce the amount of items that become trash on orbit before they go up how do you do that one of the ways is by using more efficient packing material we also reuse the clothing items like the shorts and the pants if you did have any trash couldn't you just launch it into space one of the reasons we don't launch trash into space is because it becomes space trash and that can be very dangerous how can space trash be dangerous any trash injected into space travels at a high rate of speed and at high speeds even the smallest piece can do damage to the vehicle a piece that is 10 centimeters long can cause as much damage as 25 sticks of dynamite 25 sticks of dynamite that's scary what do you do with the trash cans when they're full when the cans are full we put it in the russian unmanned vehicle called progress the progress on docks from the international space station and burns up in earth's atmosphere we also use the space shuttle to return hardware that is reusable wow that's one way to recycle and reuse i didn't know a space shuttle could carry trash that's a lot better than having trash fly all through space that's exactly right thanks for your help miss polanski my pleasure kids anytime so they do recycle in space so that means that we definitely have to reuse reduce and recycle in our habitat it's always a good idea to use the three r's okay let's get the camera so we can start working on our presentation [Music] okay first let's take a look at the living module who's going to be our narrator [Music] come on kaylee don't you want to be in the presentation yes but i finally got an email back to mr glenn schuster of signals of spring after doing a little research i figured out that my hypothesis was wrong i think signals of spring can help me come up with the new hypothesis what is signals of spring signals of spring is a project where students use data from nasa and noaa to track migratory patterns of lighterhead turtles now i know what nasa is but what is noaa it's the national oceanic and atmospheric administration they're an environmental agency they collect and analyze data to predict changes in weather how are they going to help you i asked mr shuster if fish migrated and maybe that's the reason all the fish are gone i think i finally have the answer my new hypothesis is if the fish have migrated then there will be no fish in the bay what did he say he said i should contact burbank middle school mrs stewart's class is helping signals of spring trap migration patterns of turtles that sounds great let's call them up okay hi my name is jacqueline dang and i'm in mrs stewart's class at burbank middle school in houston texas hi i'm kaley and we're the treehouse detectives we think that the fish and the bay at home have migrated we definitely can tell you about migration especially loggerhead turtle migration what is migration migration is movement of animals signals of springs helps us to use nasa real-time satellite imagery and maps to understand the migratory patterns of turtles why do turtles migrate they usually migrate when the temperature changes mostly toward the warmer weather why do they move towards warmer weather their food also migrates so they follow the food how many turtles are you tracking just one our turtle marianne has a sensor glued to our bat that sends nasty real-time data showing her location the data is put on a website and we plot the coordinates each week on our map where is she now right now she's moving south at 35.4 north and 75.4 west but when we started she was off the coast of virginia cool that's right near where we live do turtles always migrate in the same way no but they follow similar patterns each year can a change in the environment cause a difference in migration patterns i think so but you might want to check with the virginia marine science museum they helped us a lot with our project that's a great idea thanks for all your help you're welcome good luck with your project i still don't know what happened to make the fish disappear i better email the virginia marine science museum maybe they can help good idea and after that you can help us with our presentation [Music] hi dr d welcome marge explorers i see you finished your terrarium yes i'm really pleased with it i think detroit is very close to being in equilibrium what's an equilibrium it means that everything is in balance for example in a balanced system the amount of carbon dioxide consumed by the plants is equal to the carbon dioxide produced by everything else like completed sealed off terrarium as a self-sufficient system that's great dr d we think we found the solution to our mars habitat problem we first had to learn a lot about the mars environment yes we learned that it's a pretty harsh environment cold with a sparse atmosphere and hardly any oxygen that meant that our habitat had to be entirely self-contained except for sunlight that's a major source of energy don't forget the gravity on mars is only one-third as strong as that on earth and we had to watch out for wind storms and meteors since there's almost no oxygen on mars we decided we'd better have lots of plants they not only provide us with food but also oxygen that's right we had to meet the basic needs of the astronauts food water shelter and oxygen and we checked into alien environments and how plants can grow in them i learned that i need to acquire a taste for vegetables since there won't be any meat one of our modules was a trash management facility there are a lot more than the four basic needs that need to be met in our habitat with our module we also noticed that we had to take into account the adaptations that astronauts will have to make to live on mars that's great haley have you found any more information about your fish problem i talked to mrs stewart's class and they said that migratory patterns are usually consistent so i don't think the fish have migrated probably correct otherwise fish should be missing every year they suggested i talked to the virginia marine science museum and they said there have been an agile bloom in the bay back home but i'm not sure what that is well let's do an internet search okay let's pull up a search sentence type in the words algel and bloom here's a site that says harmful algae paint okay click on it and see what they have to say how does an algae bloom make all the fish disappear it says the algae use the nutrients to quickly multiply it also says that some algae attached like a fish that means that the fish die they can mess up to a few days and in some cases over a year i hope it doesn't last that long guys we better get back to the tree house if we want to see our presentation on ksnn i'm proud of you guys and can't wait to see the presentation i've got a present for you there's a terrarium for your treehouse try to give it lots of indirect sunlight [Music] well that was certainly a nice-looking martian habitat but i don't think the judges will approve of the complete lack of bathrooms [Laughter] no i don't think so ted and next up the treehouse detectives always a strong contender with their martian habitat here's bianca with the live report our habitat has three modules a laboratory for working and conducting experiments a living module for eating and sleeping and finally a greenhouse for all our food water and oxygen and yes there's even a bathroom these kids have really done their research ted right you are i am that habitat looks so cool i'll bet they can't wait to move in care to join them i am never in a million years ted that's great i am and we'll be back with more of the young astronauts parade of martian habitats right you are ted [Music] hey jake you've caught anything i think the algae bloom must still be out there i haven't caught a thing [Music] well mine must have just gotten away here [Music] yeah look forward to even more exciting mysteries next season when the nasa y-file becomes the nasa sci-files [Music] all right [Music] all right