The International Space Station has the goal of developing and testing technologies for space exploration that are capable of keeping a crew alive on long-term missions in lunar and Martian orbits. To do this, preliminary work is being done on the Gateway platform: a space station beyond Earth's orbit.

3D printing is going to be a huge factor in conducting the safe exploration of the Moon and Mars. Experiments carried out on the "nearby" Moon will be crucial for later trips to Mars, a much more complicated, long-term enterprise.

Some simple experiments with various materials help us understand what goes into planning the construction of a spacecraft. And then we wonder how we would go about making a planet inhabitable to humans.

The Columbus laboratory is the first permanent European research facility in space. There, astronauts carry out experiments and applications in space science, Earth observation and technology. Columbus offers European scientists full access to a weightless environment that cannot possibly be duplicated on Earth.

What is light? We use it every day, but where does it actually come from? The host suggests doing a little experiment. See if you can follow the instructions in Italian and try it yourself.

Luisella Giulicchi, manager of the European Space Agency ESA, answers questions about light, infrared rays, and lightyears.

Luisella Giulicchi, the system manager for the ESA Copernicus Sentinel six mission, explains what an exoplanet is. Two young researchers do a simple experiment to show us how infrared rays work.

One way to tell if there might be life on another planet is through light. Special telescopes, by way of prisms, analyze and break down the light from distant galaxies into parts. Luca Parmitano, an astronaut of the European Space Agency, speaks to us from the Columbus International Space Station.

To reach outer space, the force of gravity has to be overcome, and that requires a certain "escape" velocity. That's where launchers come in.

Observing what happens when the air comes out of a balloon will help us understand how the launcher of a spacecraft works. An electrical propulsion engineer from ESA explains about different kinds of propulsion used in space exploration.

A simple experiment with a bicycle pump shows us how rocket launchers work. Even though rockets were invented for war and for fireworks, they are also used for peaceful purposes.

Astronaut Luca Parmitano talks to us from the Columbus European Space Laboratory. He explains why tadpoles can help us learn a lot about the weightless conditions of outer space.

This segment is all about so-called "Near-Earth Objects," called "NEOs" for short. They are comets, asteroids, metors and man-made objects, as well. What have they done in the past, and what might they do in the future?

This segment talks about the difference between an asteroid and a comet. Important work is being done with the Hera and Dart missions to study how to deviate an asteroid, thus avoiding possible great damage to our beloved planet

In August of 2014, the European Space Agency Rosetta probe reached the comet 67/P. This mission allowed for the collection of a great deal of data about comets. In fact, in this episode, a comet will be fashioned out of fairly common ingredients in a normal kitchen. That's pretty exciting.

It's time to learn the names of the planets in Italian. Marika talks about our Solar System. Great for beginners!

Water is a precious resource and is as necessary to life as the air we breathe. Take a tour of some of the most spectacular natural sources of fresh water on the planet.

Comedian and actor Caterina Guzzanti is a guest at a middle school in Afragola, in the province of Naples, a school named after Rita Levi Montalcini. Guzzanti meets with the students from the theater class for a lesson on the imagination, which has a lot of importance in her work but was also very important to the great researcher from Turin, Montalcini.

Rita Levi Montalcini talks about when she won the Nobel Prize in 1986. Her niece, Piera, tells the story from her point of view, and Paola Tarassi, a research student of hers, tells about studying with her after she had already won the Nobel.

Rita Levi Montalcini felt that imagination was the "secret sauce" of her research. And this encouraged her to turn to young people, who have plenty of imagination. She didn't hesitate to teach kids of junior high school age, which came as a surprise to some people, since she was a winner of the Nobel prize.

Rita Levi Montalcini dedicated a great part of her life to young people, especially young researchers, and though she had no children of her own, she felt that all kinds of young people were like sons and daughters to her.

Rita Levi Montalcini talks about what, as a little girl, she wanted to be when she grew up. One of her main goals was to help women, especially ones from poor countries, become what they were meant to become.

As a child, Rita Levi Montalcini was shy and insecure. Her father wanted her to get married and have children, but she had other plans for her life. She also had a twin sister who was an artist.

Rita Levi Montalcini was a strong proponent of education and instruction as the means to gain freedom. She was also an example of it. This segment describes a visit to women in prison, and the obstacles Montalcini had to face, as a woman and as a Jew, during the Nazi-Fascist regime.