Catalyst: Shaping the Future

Deep space and Earth's past (2x8)

Air date: May 15, 2019

NASA's DAWN orbiter uses an ion engine to survey dwarf planet Ceres and asteroid Vesta; Astrophysicists launch a balloon carrying a 5,000-pound telescope into the stratosphere over Antarctica; NASA tests its Orion parachute system over an Army bombing range; A geologist examines rock samples and oxygen molecules to study planet Earth's "Great Oxidation Event" 2.5 billion years ago.