NewsDep! Season 49 Episode 10 [Kid] NewsDepth is a presentation of WVIZ PBS ideastream Education as made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. [Rick] Coming up next to our NewsDepth. The holiday shopping rush is on, but Christmas tree pickings are slim! Pedal to the metal! Mary zooms through Ohio's auto history! NASA reaches the red planet, now what? We'll tell ya! Plus, get off your butt, doctor's orders of course! NewsDepth is now! Three, two, one, blast off! Or rather three, two one, touchdown! NASA has landed on Mars. Hey everybody, I'm Rick Jackson. Glad to be back from Thanksgiving break 'cause we've got a ton to talk about starting with NASA's amazing feat at the end of November. Way back in May, NASA launched the Insight spacecraft, on its way to the red planet. [Man] The liftoff of the X5, launching the first interplanetary mission in the west coast and NASA's Insight, the first out of space robotic explore to study material in Mars. [Rick] If the 300 million mile journey there wasn't tough enough, landing on the fourth planet from the sun has its own complications. According to NASA, only 40% of missions to Mars have been successful. The planet's thin atmosphere makes it hard to slow down the spacecraft for a safe landing without bouncing around and damaging the sensitive equipment inside. Plus the possibility of a dust storm meant that Insight had to be equipped with a special heat shield to protect it from being sandblasted away. The spacecraft has two scientific tools on board. They will be used to learn more about what's inside of Mars, and to give us some new clues about how Mars and Earth were formed. Randy Paige has the story for us. - 300 meters. [Randy] These scientists inside the command center of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory spend in some cases decades of their professional lives on this mission. And it all came down to the final few seconds. - 50 meters, constant velocity. [Randy] Watch these two communications experts, Sandy Krasner on the right who spent seven years of his life on this project and Kris Bruvold on the left who spent five. Watch Sandy's chin and Kris' eyes in the silent final five seconds. [Woman] Touchdown confirmed! - I was terrified. You know, I mean just all the things that could go wrong and we've been practicing this and we've been training and we've been thinking about it, and it's just an amazing experience. - In the culmination of all that time and having everything go right and all the work that's gone into it and all the testing, and to know just how precarious it really is and how big of a challenge it is, and how the team just made it look so easy, but to watch it unfold like that is just it's mind-bending. [Randy] Now the real science begins in the next two or three months, Insight's two powerful instruments will be deployed, a seismometer will measure movement inside the planet and a heat probe will be pounded into the surface to measure fluctuations in temperature. Scientists will be able to understand more about how the planet formed which can teach us a lot about our planet as well. Insight principle investigator, Bruce Banerdt. - We can basically use Mars as a time machine to go back and look at what the Earth must have looked like a few tens of millions of years after it formed and by doing that, we can then look at our physical models, our theories of how the Earth evolved and understand why the Earth became the way it is. [Rick] Thanks Randy. Insights mission is expected to last two years. Can't wait to see what it discovers! Now, back on planet Earth, folks in California have been facing a harrowing experience of their own. When we left for break, the Camp Fire was deemed the most destructive wildfire in the state's history, burning through more than 153,000 acres of land and ruining right about 14,000 homes. Nearly 90 people died because of the fire and it's taken heroic efforts by fire fighters and first responders to finally contain the flames. Reporter Marc Thompson spoke with firefighters about the dangers they faced. [Marc] The Folsom strike team arrived at the Camp Fire Thursday afternoon just as the blaze was tearing through town. - Basically our primary mission was evacuations and rescue. [Marc] As the flames bore down, the Folsom crew made several daring rescues but soon found themselves cut off and needing to make a quick escape. - We were able to kind of save ourselves so to speak and in that process, we found some other people that were trapped by debris, trees, wires, et cetera. We assisted in getting them out and then ultimately, we made our retreat all the way back down. [Marc] Using every available means. - We put 'em in our truck, in our fire engines, there were other civilians that were coming down. We were able to flag them down. [Marc] At the same time nearby, a Sacramento strike team was moving towards Paradise. Their mission to save structures in a town already ablaze. - When you roll into town and Safeway is on fire and when McDonald's is gone and everything around it is gone. That day I knew it was a big one and we were gonna be here for a while. [Marc] With limited resources, the Sacramento crew saved house after house but it's the ones they couldn't protect that they'll remember the most. - When I turned around and have to walk away from a house and I look at that house, I'm like, this is someone's retirement home and everything they have is inside that house. And there's nothing I can do. [Marc] Both crews say the people of Paradise were grateful reaching out however they could to offer thanks. Selfless gestures from people who themselves have lost so much. - I've been out on other strike teams before and wild land fires before. Nothing like this. - And then you throw on top of the number of life lost this close to holidays, it does leave an impact on you. [Rick] Thank you, Marc. Californians are no stranger to wildfires. Long hot summers with little rain make the land prone to catching fire. Prone, that means likely to experience something that is usually unwelcome. Over the summer, the Carr Wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes and it burned close to 230,000 acres of land. That was in California's Shasta and Trinity counties. But the students who lived through it are sharing their experiences and encouragement with victims of the Camp Fire. Dylan Brown reports. [Woman] My sister was scared, don't worry, you will be safe. Do not cry, here's a coat, C-O-T-E. [Dylan] Sweet and kind words from students at Grant Elementary School are being sent to victims of the Camp Fire. - That's first gradees. - Seriously, like. - I love this jacket. - Jacket. - Jackait. - Jackait. [Dylan] Put into coats supplied by the staff and many others, but written by kids who lost everything in the Carr Fire. - When you read the kids' notes and you know that kid's backstory or that kid lost everything a couple months ago and he's saying, you'll be okay, right? Happy face. - Yeah. - Yes. - Like wow. [Dylan] Stephanie Rebelo and Sheena Zearly say the idea came about a couple days ago. That's when they reached out to Grant Elementary School Super Intendant Mike Freeman. - Some of us were out of our homes for weeks. Some of us lost homes, okay, but they've lost businesses, they've lost places of employment-- - And a community. - They've lost schools. - Many lives. - We had this school to come back to. What does elementary school look like in Paradise? [Dylan] The idea to help. - So Burrito Bandito-- [Dylan] Then took off. - Quality market and Plaster's Starbucks over here said, "We're gonna give you 10 gallons of coffee." [Dylan] And multiple readying businesses started pitching in. - The Jamba Juice that's also over here said, "Hey, we'll call our Jamba Juice in Chico. [Dylan] And for those affected by the Carr Fire, it's more than just resources being sent. [Woman] I got evacuated, it was the worst thing in my life but now I'm safe, I know it's really sad. I give you this coat to make you happy, hope you get a house soon. I hope you like this jacket. [Dylan] It's about the message they're sending as well. - If we could send a message to Paradise to people, you know what? You're stronger than you think, we all are, there is a resiliency in community and-- - And you will make it, you just need to reach out and ask for help, and there are a lot more people willing to help than I think you realize, when you're going through it. [Rick] Thanks Dylan. What a sweet way for those students to pay it forward! Now closer to home, workers are saying that their employer is doing just the opposite of paying it forward. General Motors, the company that builds Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicles recently announced it would be closing several factories in North America, including one in Lordstown, Ohio, that's in Trumbull county.