On-screen animation shows a house on the moon inside a dome with a sign that reads 'Home sweet home'.
On-screen text reads 'Living on the moon'.
Shot of Planet Earth in space covered in skyscrapers and dancing to music.
NARRATOR:
We've lived on the Earth for a long time, and we've gotten pretty good at it. In fact, we've gotten so good at it that we've started thinking about living somewhere else.
Shot of Mars in space with a sign that reads 'Mars Realty, 1.56 x 10 to the power of 15 sq ft! Extra spacious. 1-800-555-MARS.'
NARRATOR:
Somewhere like... another planet. Or even somewhere as close as our moon.
Shot of the moon in space with a sign that reads 'For rent'.
NARRATOR:
Now, one of the reasons we're so good at living on the Earth is that it has pretty much everything we need.
Shot of a picturesque mountain range.
On-screen text reads 'Earth - food, water, air, cable TV.'
NARRATOR:
Somewhere like the Moon doesn't.
Shot of the moon's surface.
On-screen text reads 'Moon - nothing.'
NARRATOR:
So if we want to live on the Moon, we're going to need to take a few things with us.
Shot of suitcases at an airport, one labelled 'Moon or bust'.
NARRATOR:
And what are the three basic things we need in order to live?
On-screen animation shows a hand writing a list.
On-screen text reads 'Stuff to take to the moon. 1 - food, 2 - water, 3 - air.'
NARRATOR:
That's right - food, water and air. Let's start with air. The Moon has none.
On-screen animation shows clouds disappearing from around the moon.
NARRATOR:
Humans need a combination of gasses in order to breathe like we do here on Earth.
On-screen animation shows a pie chart.
On-screen text reads 'Air = 78.1% nitrogen, 20.9% oxygen, 1% argon.'
NARRATOR:
So what happens when we start running out?
On-screen animation shows the house on the moon, with the oxygen gauge on the dome indicating empty.
NARRATOR:
We can bring more, but that gets expensive.
On-screen animation shows a delivery van labelled 'Next Day Air' with a dollar sign on top.
NARRATOR:
So we need to find a way to make some more on our own. How about adding some plants?
On-screen animation shows a garden popping up under the dome.
NARRATOR:
Plants take our carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen.
On-screen animation shows carbon dioxide passing through an ear of corn to become oxygen.
On-screen text reads 'Plants! Carbon dioxide. Oxygen.'
NARRATOR:
And as a convenient by-product, we can eat them too. That helps solve our food problem.
On-screen animation shows the corn on a plate disappearing with bite by bite.
NARRATOR:
But we're forgetting one thing.
On-screen graphic of a question mark.
NARRATOR:
Both humans and plants need water!
On-screen text reads 'Water!'
On-screen graphic of people and corn with a water bottle.
NARRATOR:
We'll bring some to start and we've come up with some...
(Toilet flushes)
On-screen animation shows water pipes connected to the house on the moon.
NARRATOR:
..clever ways of recycling it. That can keep us going while we search for water or ice.
On-screen animation shows the moon with blue markers on it.
NARRATOR:
So we have our food, our water and air.
On-screen animation shows the domed house on the moon as waves pass over it from the sun.
NARRATOR:
What else do we need to deal with? That's right - the sun. The sun helps plants grow and we can use solar panels to give us power.
On-screen animation shows a solar power appear on the domed house.
NARRATOR:
But too much sun can be dangerous. On the Earth, we're protected by our atmosphere so we get just enough sunlight.
On-screen animation shows Planet Earth in space reflecting waves of sunlight.
NARRATOR:
But on the Moon, there is no atmosphere, so we need to protect ourselves from all that radiation.
On-screen animation shows the dome over the house on the moon tinted darker.
NARRATOR:
So now we're living happily on the Moon. But what happens when we want to do something like order pizza?
On-screen animation shows a space shuttle with a pizza sign approaching the moon.
NARRATOR:
Well, on Earth, we just pick up the phone.
Shot of an old-fashioned telephone.
NARRATOR:
We can do the same thing on the Moon, but it's not that simple.
On-screen animation shows three satellites between Planet Earth and the moon.
NARRATOR:
We need satellites to make that call.
Various shots of the control room at NASA.
NARRATOR:
But, seriously, folks, our scientists on the Moon will be doing more than just ordering pizza. They'll be sending lots of information back to the Earth, so we can learn more about our new environment.
Shot of a man using lab equipment to examine a rock specimen.
NARRATOR:
And when it comes to living in space, the more we know, the farther we can go.
Shot of a space shuttle with a pizza sign landing on Mars.
On-screen animation of wheels and cogs forming a logo.
On-screen text reads 'BEST - beginning engineer, science, and technology.'
(Children cheering)