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Refugees Flood Inland; Couple Who Rescued Swedish Boy Share Story; One Year Later, Mars Rovers Still Going

Aired January 03, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking headlines "Now in the News."
Norway takes the lead in the amount of money pledged per capita for tsunami survivors. The Scandinavian country has raised its pledge from 16 million to about $180 million. That comes to $39.50 per citizen.

No danger, no worries. Canadian officials say no part of a diseased cow entered the food chain, human or animal. The dairy cow from Alberta tested positive for the Mad Cow Disease, the second such case in Canada in more than a decade.

Going to trial: a federal grand jury has indicted five of the six men accused of setting fire to an upscale subdivision being built in Maryland. The charges include conspiracy to commit arson and aiding and abetting. Last month's fire caused about $10 million in damage.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Box by -- box by box, rather, truck by truck, supplies are meeting up with demands today in the tsunami ravaged coastlines and villages of the Asian subcontinent.

That includes southern Sri Lanka, where the group AmeriCares is the most visible sign of a global campaign that now tops $2 billion in public contributions alone. Maximizing private contribution is the mission today of two former presidents, Clinton and Bush, enlisted by the current president to tap, quote, "the great decency of the American people."

Just a short time ago, 41 and 42 sat down with CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure, any time the United States helps somebody, through aid or through missions of this nature, or you can say to a person that's suffering from the loss of children in Indonesia or Sri Lanka, of course, it helps. We are a compassionate nation. And they see it.

And you should have been at that embassy talking to these ambassadors and what they feel in their heart about -- about the willingness of the United States to support them. Whether it's our helicopters, or whether it's the private sector. Or whether it's some private group coming in with whatever it is over there. It's just enormous. BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, let's not forget about this. Will it help America? It always helps America when countries that aren't as rich and powerful as we are think we're pulling for them. And they get it.

Just like you get it. You talk to people; you have a reaction to them. That's the way countries are. They're no different from people.

But the best way for us to help ourselves is do what is right without regard to how people feel about us. Just do it, and it will happen. The rest will come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton will be Larry King's guests tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific right here on CNN.

In northern Indonesia, survivors who are able to travel or in many case refugees -- or travel, rather, in many cases, refugees and villages untouched by the tragedy. Well, places nearer the ocean remain a chaotic mix of desperation and devastation, even with the onset of help from abroad.

Here is correspondent's Dan Rivers of Britain's Independent Television News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've waited a week for this, and now their patience is exhausted, hunger and desperation turning this rice distribution point to an ugly scene.

The aid is now arriving but more is needed. As Banda Aceh city starts to turn from the horror of the dead to the plight of the living.

But there is still chaos here. Just look at this extraordinary scene: looters that try to steal gas from this wrecked trawler. The subsequent fire finished off what remained of the mosque.

The airport is now the nexus of a multinational aid operation, food and medicine arriving from all over the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're going to fly wherever we're needed to get supplies and people back and forth to people most affected by this.

RIVERS: The Royal Air Force has also flown over with equipment, vehicles and supplies.

But in rural Aceh it's a different story. Champo (ph) was a town of just 20,000, but now it has 6,000 refugees living in its midst. Villagers have donated clothes for the survivors of the tsunami, this poor inland community happy to help their devastated coastal neighbors. Hamid Ali (ph) spent four days walking here after losing his wife and children. He's staying here with his brother, who's opened the doors to his tiny house.

(on camera) Like many homes in this village, this house has just two rooms but it's home to 20 refugees, relying on the charity of distant relatives.

(voice-over) These people have gone through so much, but in order to survive, they can't rest. They ask why they were spared, why so many others died, if it will happen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: During the first hours of the tsunami disaster the search for a young Swedish boy symbolized the search for many other children. This hour we have the remarkable story of the American couple who first found him, in their own words.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON RUBIN, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: This is -- this is what's left of our hotel room. Our bed was here. And we were sleeping.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're survivors amid the tragedy. From Ron Rubin and Rebecca Beddall, it was meant to be a dream vacation.

RUBIN: It was an absolute tropical paradise, just miles and miles of perfect sandy beach, palm trees, you know, Christmas day, families walking on the beach. It was -- it was -- it was something you'd see in a post card before the wave.

I was awakened by this crashing noise. It sounded like a landslide, an earthquake, a plane crashing, and a train wreck all at the same time.

CHANCE (on camera): You can see that all along this coastline of Thailand, resort after resort has been crushed by the giant tsunami. Thousands of people were killed, Thais and tourists alike, making this story all the more incredible. But it doesn't end there, because they didn't just save themselves but one other, as well.

REBECCA BEDDALL, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: From the roof point where we had been, during the tsunami we saw up here, and we thought this is the highest we could go. So this is where we ended up and most people had convened here, looking for other lost members. Everyone was missing somebody. So this was kind of the place people were trickling in to see if they could find each other.

CHANCE: And is this the exact place where you found Hannes?

BEDDALL: Yes. He was right there.

CHANCE: You didn't know his name was Hannes, did you?

BEDDALL: No, of course, not. No. He was laying right over about in that spot right there.

CHANCE (voice-over): They picked up little Hannes Bergstrom, in shock and half drowned, and took him to hospital, where we first filmed him. A few days later, he was reunited with at least some of his Swedish family.

RUBIN: It was very emotional to see that the father was alive and the grandmother was alive. And it's a tragedy that the mother died, but we were just -- we were so happy for him when we -- when we...

BEDDALL: And he was playing normally, just like a normal -- a normal kid. He had a toy and he kept squeezing it and talking, and I mean he was not like that the day we had him. He was not talking. He was not playing, not -- He was very out of it. So we were really happy to see he looked perfectly normal again.

CHANCE: But the joy is mixed with sadness, too. Only a few lucky ones could survive with so many perished.

BEDDALL: Too much luck. You know, it's too much luck that we both survived. We didn't lose one another. We had no injuries. It's -- and that's just not the case for the majority of the people that were staying in Khao Lak. So there's really no words to describe how we feel.

RUBIN: It's just a miracle to be alive.

CHANCE: Matthew Chance, CNN, Khao Lak, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN has special prime time coverage of the tsunami aid efforts tonight. It begins at 7 p.m. Eastern. Anderson Cooper anchors from Sri Lanka.

PHILLIPS: Do you remember what you were doing one year ago today? I know Miles does.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I do. One year ago today, my life and the world of space exploration were both forever changed.

PHILLIPS: So were we.

O'BRIEN: We all became Martians of sorts. A little space rover that touched down on the surface of Mars. Ahead -- Mars. Ahead, what NASA scientists have learned about the red planet since then.

And Bill Nye, the Science Guy, will talk about his literal moment in the sun with the Mars mission. He'll help me reveal why the rovers are passing interplanetary notes, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: It's Spirit Day. Where's my cards? It's been exactly one year since NASA's Spirit rover began exploring the surface of Mars. In the mail, right Kyra? In the mail?

Somehow Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, keep going and going and going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Red rovers, red rovers, when will it be over?

MATT GOLOMBEK, JET PROPULSION LAB: They were designed for three months. And so they're well past their warranty.

O'BRIEN: Now, nearly a year since NASA's Mars exploration team celebrated a two for two slam dunk on the surface of the red planet, and their $800 million rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still at it, meandering over rust tinted hill and dale, drilling holes, analyzing rocks and dirt, and sending back some astonishing post cards.

STEVE SOUVRES, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: It was an accumulation, a growing body of evidence, and -- and gradually the story came into focus.

O'BRIEN: These tiny concrete like spheres, about the size of bb's, these layer cake sedimentary rocks, and their telltale ingredients all lead to an irrefutable conclusion: billions of years ago Mars was warm and wet, probably covered with oceans.

The question: were there any fish in the sea, so to speak?

SOUVRES: But this provided a medium that would have been a suitable environment for life to develop in and to inhabit potentially?

GOLOMBEK: So it begs the question of whether there was a second genesis. Did life form somewhere else besides the earth?

O'BRIEN (on camera): Spirit and Opportunity are not equipped to answer that question definitively.

A lander that collects Martian rocks and then returns them to Earth may get scientists closer to that Holy Grail. Right now NASA doesn't have a mission like that on the books. But the success of these rovers might change that soon.

(voice-over) In the meantime, Spirit and Opportunity roll on like Martian Energizer bunnies. Their solar rays aren't covered with nearly as much dust as engineers guessed, so there is plenty of power, captain. But the team that drives them knows they are one failure away from the end of this star trek.

SOUVRES: We're planning for hundreds of days of operations, but each day we drive literally like there's no tomorrow. O'BRIEN: Opportunity is now headed for an inspection of the heat shield it jettisoned as it entered Mars a year ago. Spirit is trolling for more signs of water in the Columbia hills. But whatever they find now, might as well be gravy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And joining us now is a man who always knows what time it is on Mars. Bill Nye, the science guy from Washington.

Good to see you, Bill.

BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY: Good to see you. Miles O'Brien, the news lion.

O'BRIEN: Hey, I like that. I like that. That might stick.

All right. Let's -- let's talk about sundials and their roles on these rovers. A year ago we first introduced this concept to our vast viewing audience and, of course, they've all been tracking the sundial project. But let's refresh them, shall we?

First, I want to -- I want to go back to the first disco era, if you will, the '70s and Viking. Let me show folks a picture. Let's take a look at this picture. And the quiz is what's wrong with this picture?

Bill, what's wrong with this picture?

NYE: The sky is blue.

O'BRIEN: The sky is blue, that's correct. We know now the sky on Mars is what?

NYE: Is taupe or suntan or ecru. Kyra, maybe you can help us out with that. Orange.

PHILLIPS: I want a name first.

O'BRIEN: You want a name for what?

PHILLIPS: You keep thinking about that, Bill Nye, Science Guy.

O'BRIEN: We'll work on that.

And really the clue here came with the flag, didn't it? The flag looked off color. They realized they had to color balance, probably, and they got a pink sky for Viking, right?

NYE: Yes. Pink or orange, whatever that color is.

O'BRIEN: OK. So...

NYE: So...

O'BRIEN: So they said we want to put a little color calibration device on the device. There's more pink sky out there. And this is what ended up on the two rovers, and it is significant, because not only does is it a color calibration device, it is also...

NYE: A sundial.

O'BRIEN: There you go. Tell me about that.

NYE: Well, so, here's the idea. If you look at -- you can download this paper one from my web site.

O'BRIEN: Well that's not on Mars, let be clear.

NYE: No, but it's exactly -- it's exactly the same size and shape. You can make your own. You can take it out in the sun.

If you look at the shadow in the sun, you will see that the shadow here on Earth is not just gray -- oh, yes, it's gray, but it is ever so slightly light blue. And that light blue on Earth comes from our sky, our blue sky.

Well, on Mars, the dust and so on that's in the sky scatters or rather reflects light so strongly, that you end up with all this extra pink or red or orange light on the planet's surface. And that can throw a geologist off.

A geologist picks up a rock, what color is that? And if the color is too orange or too red, you might make a bad hypothesis that will be in your way, a hypothesis you'll have to discard later. So it's a time saver. Pun intended.

O'BRIEN: There you have it. You have the sundial. It has known colors there on the sundial. So they know exactly what these are supposed to look like on Earth. They send them off onto the rover. You cast a shadow over it so you can sort of figure out what's going on with the colors. And you get a proper color balance.

Look at this shot here. This is kind of interesting to see, the way that the sundials. It just looks different depending on the time of day.

NYE: Here's what happened.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

NYE: Here's what happened. The edge of a crater off there to camera right is blocking the sunlight at sunset on Mars on the surface of the dial, yet the sun is hitting the vertical stick, the gnomon, as we say in sun dialing.

And so it's just, if you will, an other worldly light. Wait, wait, it is another world.

O'BRIEN: It is. It is.

NYE: And so, you know, sundials should have a motto, Miles.

O'BRIEN: What would they be?

NYE: I only count the sunny hours. Life is but a shadow, something like that. Our motto is two worlds, one sun.

O'BRIEN: Two worlds, one sun. There you go.

NYE: And if you think about it, the shadow on Mars is cast by the same life giving star as shadows here on Earth. And that is a worthy thing.

O'BRIEN: And here's the image which, perhaps among them all, I might speculate, you are most interested in, or certainly near the top of the list.

NYE: Yes, this was taken about three weeks ago.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a negative, by the way, but it's not.

NYE: I know. And that's -- we had -- we -- people had a blue filter in, but notice that the very, very black gnomon, the vertical post is not black right now in the shot.

O'BRIEN: It's not black.

NYE: It's frosty white. And that's because it has water vapor frozen or liquid, how do you say, frozen water on it.

O'BRIEN: That would be frost.

NYE: And so if there's that much water, that close to the surface, in this remote not quite chosen at random place on Mars, just think if we went looking in an especially good place for frost. Maybe there will be evidence of living things.

O'BRIEN: There you go.

NYE: If we found evidence of living things there, that would change the world.

O'BRIEN: Yes. There you go. The possibility of water. Water is always equated with life here on this planet.

NYE: It's the solvent.

O'BRIEN: Who knows? Maybe this message, which I hope you can read well at home, will be read by some creature other than humans some day.

NYE: That would be...

O'BRIEN: And it says this, "People launched this spacecraft from Earth in the year 2003. It arrived on Mars in 2004. We built its instruments to study the Martian environment and to look for signs of life. We used this post and these patterns to adjust our cameras and as a sundial to reckon the passage of time. The drawings and words represent people of Earth. We sent this craft in peace to learn of Mars' past and prepare for our future. To those who visit here, we wish a safe journey and the joy of discovery."

That, of course, we have to -- there's a few assumptions we have to make about English speaking and so forth. And it does remind me a little bit of that -- I guess you'd call it a record or disk that was sent off on Voyager, similar kind of thing.

NYE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Potentially, I suppose someday, some creature could look at that.

NYE: Well, it probably will be humans. Probably from the aerospace tradition, probably people familiar with English, probably.

O'BRIEN: So they would be able to decipher those markings on that plate?

NYE: Yes. As long as they've got, as we say now, reading glasses. The writing is quite small. And this is the message to the future.

You know, I -- I was greatly influenced by astronomer Carl Sagan. And he pointed out that when you throw something into the cosmoses you should put a message on it. It's a message in a bottle.

And of course, in general you write the message in your own language, hoping against hope that someone will find it and perhaps be inspired by it. Or at least give them pause for thought. So you write messages like that for yourself but, of course, you dream that it's for someone else.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bill Nye, it's been quite a year. I'm told -- scientists tell me it's possible we could be celebrating a second anniversary for these wonderful....

NYE: It's possible.

O'BRIEN: It is possible. Good to have you drop by. Always a pleasure.

NYE: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you soon, OK?

NYE: Happy Spirit anniversary.

O'BRIEN: Same to you. The card's in the mail. All right -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, could a new year mean a new job for you? Why 2005 could be one of the best times for a change of scenery. This just ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT) O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. We're out of time.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we are. With Bill Nye and the science guy. You guys and your little rover fest and the sundial.

O'BRIEN: I think we better stop talking now. We're in trouble.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Judy Woodruff.

O'BRIEN: Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra. Hi, Miles. Thanks to both of you.

Well, much needed aid is finally making it to areas devastated by the Asian tsunamis. We'll look at the ongoing relief efforts and hear what a group of U.S. officials touring the region says about the work now underway.

Plus, as Congress gets back to work tomorrow we'll take a look at what's on tap as well as what the president has in mind for his second term.

"INSIDE POLITICS" begins just a moment.

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Aired January 3, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking headlines "Now in the News."
Norway takes the lead in the amount of money pledged per capita for tsunami survivors. The Scandinavian country has raised its pledge from 16 million to about $180 million. That comes to $39.50 per citizen.

No danger, no worries. Canadian officials say no part of a diseased cow entered the food chain, human or animal. The dairy cow from Alberta tested positive for the Mad Cow Disease, the second such case in Canada in more than a decade.

Going to trial: a federal grand jury has indicted five of the six men accused of setting fire to an upscale subdivision being built in Maryland. The charges include conspiracy to commit arson and aiding and abetting. Last month's fire caused about $10 million in damage.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Box by -- box by box, rather, truck by truck, supplies are meeting up with demands today in the tsunami ravaged coastlines and villages of the Asian subcontinent.

That includes southern Sri Lanka, where the group AmeriCares is the most visible sign of a global campaign that now tops $2 billion in public contributions alone. Maximizing private contribution is the mission today of two former presidents, Clinton and Bush, enlisted by the current president to tap, quote, "the great decency of the American people."

Just a short time ago, 41 and 42 sat down with CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure, any time the United States helps somebody, through aid or through missions of this nature, or you can say to a person that's suffering from the loss of children in Indonesia or Sri Lanka, of course, it helps. We are a compassionate nation. And they see it.

And you should have been at that embassy talking to these ambassadors and what they feel in their heart about -- about the willingness of the United States to support them. Whether it's our helicopters, or whether it's the private sector. Or whether it's some private group coming in with whatever it is over there. It's just enormous. BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, let's not forget about this. Will it help America? It always helps America when countries that aren't as rich and powerful as we are think we're pulling for them. And they get it.

Just like you get it. You talk to people; you have a reaction to them. That's the way countries are. They're no different from people.

But the best way for us to help ourselves is do what is right without regard to how people feel about us. Just do it, and it will happen. The rest will come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton will be Larry King's guests tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific right here on CNN.

In northern Indonesia, survivors who are able to travel or in many case refugees -- or travel, rather, in many cases, refugees and villages untouched by the tragedy. Well, places nearer the ocean remain a chaotic mix of desperation and devastation, even with the onset of help from abroad.

Here is correspondent's Dan Rivers of Britain's Independent Television News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've waited a week for this, and now their patience is exhausted, hunger and desperation turning this rice distribution point to an ugly scene.

The aid is now arriving but more is needed. As Banda Aceh city starts to turn from the horror of the dead to the plight of the living.

But there is still chaos here. Just look at this extraordinary scene: looters that try to steal gas from this wrecked trawler. The subsequent fire finished off what remained of the mosque.

The airport is now the nexus of a multinational aid operation, food and medicine arriving from all over the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're going to fly wherever we're needed to get supplies and people back and forth to people most affected by this.

RIVERS: The Royal Air Force has also flown over with equipment, vehicles and supplies.

But in rural Aceh it's a different story. Champo (ph) was a town of just 20,000, but now it has 6,000 refugees living in its midst. Villagers have donated clothes for the survivors of the tsunami, this poor inland community happy to help their devastated coastal neighbors. Hamid Ali (ph) spent four days walking here after losing his wife and children. He's staying here with his brother, who's opened the doors to his tiny house.

(on camera) Like many homes in this village, this house has just two rooms but it's home to 20 refugees, relying on the charity of distant relatives.

(voice-over) These people have gone through so much, but in order to survive, they can't rest. They ask why they were spared, why so many others died, if it will happen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: During the first hours of the tsunami disaster the search for a young Swedish boy symbolized the search for many other children. This hour we have the remarkable story of the American couple who first found him, in their own words.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON RUBIN, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: This is -- this is what's left of our hotel room. Our bed was here. And we were sleeping.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're survivors amid the tragedy. From Ron Rubin and Rebecca Beddall, it was meant to be a dream vacation.

RUBIN: It was an absolute tropical paradise, just miles and miles of perfect sandy beach, palm trees, you know, Christmas day, families walking on the beach. It was -- it was -- it was something you'd see in a post card before the wave.

I was awakened by this crashing noise. It sounded like a landslide, an earthquake, a plane crashing, and a train wreck all at the same time.

CHANCE (on camera): You can see that all along this coastline of Thailand, resort after resort has been crushed by the giant tsunami. Thousands of people were killed, Thais and tourists alike, making this story all the more incredible. But it doesn't end there, because they didn't just save themselves but one other, as well.

REBECCA BEDDALL, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: From the roof point where we had been, during the tsunami we saw up here, and we thought this is the highest we could go. So this is where we ended up and most people had convened here, looking for other lost members. Everyone was missing somebody. So this was kind of the place people were trickling in to see if they could find each other.

CHANCE: And is this the exact place where you found Hannes?

BEDDALL: Yes. He was right there.

CHANCE: You didn't know his name was Hannes, did you?

BEDDALL: No, of course, not. No. He was laying right over about in that spot right there.

CHANCE (voice-over): They picked up little Hannes Bergstrom, in shock and half drowned, and took him to hospital, where we first filmed him. A few days later, he was reunited with at least some of his Swedish family.

RUBIN: It was very emotional to see that the father was alive and the grandmother was alive. And it's a tragedy that the mother died, but we were just -- we were so happy for him when we -- when we...

BEDDALL: And he was playing normally, just like a normal -- a normal kid. He had a toy and he kept squeezing it and talking, and I mean he was not like that the day we had him. He was not talking. He was not playing, not -- He was very out of it. So we were really happy to see he looked perfectly normal again.

CHANCE: But the joy is mixed with sadness, too. Only a few lucky ones could survive with so many perished.

BEDDALL: Too much luck. You know, it's too much luck that we both survived. We didn't lose one another. We had no injuries. It's -- and that's just not the case for the majority of the people that were staying in Khao Lak. So there's really no words to describe how we feel.

RUBIN: It's just a miracle to be alive.

CHANCE: Matthew Chance, CNN, Khao Lak, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN has special prime time coverage of the tsunami aid efforts tonight. It begins at 7 p.m. Eastern. Anderson Cooper anchors from Sri Lanka.

PHILLIPS: Do you remember what you were doing one year ago today? I know Miles does.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I do. One year ago today, my life and the world of space exploration were both forever changed.

PHILLIPS: So were we.

O'BRIEN: We all became Martians of sorts. A little space rover that touched down on the surface of Mars. Ahead -- Mars. Ahead, what NASA scientists have learned about the red planet since then.

And Bill Nye, the Science Guy, will talk about his literal moment in the sun with the Mars mission. He'll help me reveal why the rovers are passing interplanetary notes, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: It's Spirit Day. Where's my cards? It's been exactly one year since NASA's Spirit rover began exploring the surface of Mars. In the mail, right Kyra? In the mail?

Somehow Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, keep going and going and going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Red rovers, red rovers, when will it be over?

MATT GOLOMBEK, JET PROPULSION LAB: They were designed for three months. And so they're well past their warranty.

O'BRIEN: Now, nearly a year since NASA's Mars exploration team celebrated a two for two slam dunk on the surface of the red planet, and their $800 million rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still at it, meandering over rust tinted hill and dale, drilling holes, analyzing rocks and dirt, and sending back some astonishing post cards.

STEVE SOUVRES, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: It was an accumulation, a growing body of evidence, and -- and gradually the story came into focus.

O'BRIEN: These tiny concrete like spheres, about the size of bb's, these layer cake sedimentary rocks, and their telltale ingredients all lead to an irrefutable conclusion: billions of years ago Mars was warm and wet, probably covered with oceans.

The question: were there any fish in the sea, so to speak?

SOUVRES: But this provided a medium that would have been a suitable environment for life to develop in and to inhabit potentially?

GOLOMBEK: So it begs the question of whether there was a second genesis. Did life form somewhere else besides the earth?

O'BRIEN (on camera): Spirit and Opportunity are not equipped to answer that question definitively.

A lander that collects Martian rocks and then returns them to Earth may get scientists closer to that Holy Grail. Right now NASA doesn't have a mission like that on the books. But the success of these rovers might change that soon.

(voice-over) In the meantime, Spirit and Opportunity roll on like Martian Energizer bunnies. Their solar rays aren't covered with nearly as much dust as engineers guessed, so there is plenty of power, captain. But the team that drives them knows they are one failure away from the end of this star trek.

SOUVRES: We're planning for hundreds of days of operations, but each day we drive literally like there's no tomorrow. O'BRIEN: Opportunity is now headed for an inspection of the heat shield it jettisoned as it entered Mars a year ago. Spirit is trolling for more signs of water in the Columbia hills. But whatever they find now, might as well be gravy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And joining us now is a man who always knows what time it is on Mars. Bill Nye, the science guy from Washington.

Good to see you, Bill.

BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY: Good to see you. Miles O'Brien, the news lion.

O'BRIEN: Hey, I like that. I like that. That might stick.

All right. Let's -- let's talk about sundials and their roles on these rovers. A year ago we first introduced this concept to our vast viewing audience and, of course, they've all been tracking the sundial project. But let's refresh them, shall we?

First, I want to -- I want to go back to the first disco era, if you will, the '70s and Viking. Let me show folks a picture. Let's take a look at this picture. And the quiz is what's wrong with this picture?

Bill, what's wrong with this picture?

NYE: The sky is blue.

O'BRIEN: The sky is blue, that's correct. We know now the sky on Mars is what?

NYE: Is taupe or suntan or ecru. Kyra, maybe you can help us out with that. Orange.

PHILLIPS: I want a name first.

O'BRIEN: You want a name for what?

PHILLIPS: You keep thinking about that, Bill Nye, Science Guy.

O'BRIEN: We'll work on that.

And really the clue here came with the flag, didn't it? The flag looked off color. They realized they had to color balance, probably, and they got a pink sky for Viking, right?

NYE: Yes. Pink or orange, whatever that color is.

O'BRIEN: OK. So...

NYE: So...

O'BRIEN: So they said we want to put a little color calibration device on the device. There's more pink sky out there. And this is what ended up on the two rovers, and it is significant, because not only does is it a color calibration device, it is also...

NYE: A sundial.

O'BRIEN: There you go. Tell me about that.

NYE: Well, so, here's the idea. If you look at -- you can download this paper one from my web site.

O'BRIEN: Well that's not on Mars, let be clear.

NYE: No, but it's exactly -- it's exactly the same size and shape. You can make your own. You can take it out in the sun.

If you look at the shadow in the sun, you will see that the shadow here on Earth is not just gray -- oh, yes, it's gray, but it is ever so slightly light blue. And that light blue on Earth comes from our sky, our blue sky.

Well, on Mars, the dust and so on that's in the sky scatters or rather reflects light so strongly, that you end up with all this extra pink or red or orange light on the planet's surface. And that can throw a geologist off.

A geologist picks up a rock, what color is that? And if the color is too orange or too red, you might make a bad hypothesis that will be in your way, a hypothesis you'll have to discard later. So it's a time saver. Pun intended.

O'BRIEN: There you have it. You have the sundial. It has known colors there on the sundial. So they know exactly what these are supposed to look like on Earth. They send them off onto the rover. You cast a shadow over it so you can sort of figure out what's going on with the colors. And you get a proper color balance.

Look at this shot here. This is kind of interesting to see, the way that the sundials. It just looks different depending on the time of day.

NYE: Here's what happened.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

NYE: Here's what happened. The edge of a crater off there to camera right is blocking the sunlight at sunset on Mars on the surface of the dial, yet the sun is hitting the vertical stick, the gnomon, as we say in sun dialing.

And so it's just, if you will, an other worldly light. Wait, wait, it is another world.

O'BRIEN: It is. It is.

NYE: And so, you know, sundials should have a motto, Miles.

O'BRIEN: What would they be?

NYE: I only count the sunny hours. Life is but a shadow, something like that. Our motto is two worlds, one sun.

O'BRIEN: Two worlds, one sun. There you go.

NYE: And if you think about it, the shadow on Mars is cast by the same life giving star as shadows here on Earth. And that is a worthy thing.

O'BRIEN: And here's the image which, perhaps among them all, I might speculate, you are most interested in, or certainly near the top of the list.

NYE: Yes, this was taken about three weeks ago.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a negative, by the way, but it's not.

NYE: I know. And that's -- we had -- we -- people had a blue filter in, but notice that the very, very black gnomon, the vertical post is not black right now in the shot.

O'BRIEN: It's not black.

NYE: It's frosty white. And that's because it has water vapor frozen or liquid, how do you say, frozen water on it.

O'BRIEN: That would be frost.

NYE: And so if there's that much water, that close to the surface, in this remote not quite chosen at random place on Mars, just think if we went looking in an especially good place for frost. Maybe there will be evidence of living things.

O'BRIEN: There you go.

NYE: If we found evidence of living things there, that would change the world.

O'BRIEN: Yes. There you go. The possibility of water. Water is always equated with life here on this planet.

NYE: It's the solvent.

O'BRIEN: Who knows? Maybe this message, which I hope you can read well at home, will be read by some creature other than humans some day.

NYE: That would be...

O'BRIEN: And it says this, "People launched this spacecraft from Earth in the year 2003. It arrived on Mars in 2004. We built its instruments to study the Martian environment and to look for signs of life. We used this post and these patterns to adjust our cameras and as a sundial to reckon the passage of time. The drawings and words represent people of Earth. We sent this craft in peace to learn of Mars' past and prepare for our future. To those who visit here, we wish a safe journey and the joy of discovery."

That, of course, we have to -- there's a few assumptions we have to make about English speaking and so forth. And it does remind me a little bit of that -- I guess you'd call it a record or disk that was sent off on Voyager, similar kind of thing.

NYE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Potentially, I suppose someday, some creature could look at that.

NYE: Well, it probably will be humans. Probably from the aerospace tradition, probably people familiar with English, probably.

O'BRIEN: So they would be able to decipher those markings on that plate?

NYE: Yes. As long as they've got, as we say now, reading glasses. The writing is quite small. And this is the message to the future.

You know, I -- I was greatly influenced by astronomer Carl Sagan. And he pointed out that when you throw something into the cosmoses you should put a message on it. It's a message in a bottle.

And of course, in general you write the message in your own language, hoping against hope that someone will find it and perhaps be inspired by it. Or at least give them pause for thought. So you write messages like that for yourself but, of course, you dream that it's for someone else.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bill Nye, it's been quite a year. I'm told -- scientists tell me it's possible we could be celebrating a second anniversary for these wonderful....

NYE: It's possible.

O'BRIEN: It is possible. Good to have you drop by. Always a pleasure.

NYE: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you soon, OK?

NYE: Happy Spirit anniversary.

O'BRIEN: Same to you. The card's in the mail. All right -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, could a new year mean a new job for you? Why 2005 could be one of the best times for a change of scenery. This just ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT) O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. We're out of time.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we are. With Bill Nye and the science guy. You guys and your little rover fest and the sundial.

O'BRIEN: I think we better stop talking now. We're in trouble.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Judy Woodruff.

O'BRIEN: Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra. Hi, Miles. Thanks to both of you.

Well, much needed aid is finally making it to areas devastated by the Asian tsunamis. We'll look at the ongoing relief efforts and hear what a group of U.S. officials touring the region says about the work now underway.

Plus, as Congress gets back to work tomorrow we'll take a look at what's on tap as well as what the president has in mind for his second term.

"INSIDE POLITICS" begins just a moment.

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