SPEAKER 1: This is Margaret Hamilton,
head of the team that developed the onboard flight software
that landed us on the moon.
She coined the term software engineering,
got a special prize from NASA, got a Presidential Medal
of Freedom.
50 years after the moon landing, what if she got a thank you--
from the moon?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is the Ivanpah Solar Facility.
Hundreds of thousands of car-sized mirrors
reflect from the sun to create energy.
But what do they do at night?
What if we thought of them as pixels, hundreds of thousands
of pixels individually positioned to reflect the moon,
forming an image visible from the sky,
a 1.4 square mile canvas bigger than Central Park, bigger
than over 200 Eiffel Towers put together?
Is that even possible?
Calculate the trajectory of the moon.
Find the perfect angle in Earth Studio.
Record the aerial coordinates.
Talk to these people in California that run Ivanpah.
SPEAKER 2: I'm [? Pat ?] [INAUDIBLE]..
I'm the operations team at Ivanpah.
SPEAKER 1: Call the engineers in Israel
that control the mirrors.
SPEAKER 3: We have [INAUDIBLE] and also [INAUDIBLE]..
SPEAKER 1: Can we point those mirrors
at the moon to create a giant image of Margaret Hamilton made
of moonlight?
SPEAKER 4: Just one minute.
We need to think about it.
SPEAKER 3: I can't give a positive answer yet.
SPEAKER 1: Contact Margaret Hamilton.
[CLOCK TICKING]
Find a photo of Margaret.
Make it into a tribute.
Make it into pixels.
Translate that for 107,555 mirrors.
Only one more full moon before the anniversary
of the moon landing.
We need to talk to Margaret.
SPEAKER 5: Hi, Margaret.
MARGARET HAMILTON: Hi.
SPEAKER 5: Next week, we're going
to be going out and hoping to create a giant portrait of you
on this entire field.
MARGARET HAMILTON: [CHUCKLES] That's a lot
to do between now and then.
[CHUCKLING]
SPEAKER 1: Go to Ivanpah.
SPEAKER 6: Hi, we're here from Google.
[WHIRRING]
SPEAKER 5: We've just arrived.
It's our first time seeing the towers all lit up,
which is pretty amazing.
SPEAKER 1: Watch a safety video.
Put on snake books.
Watch out for wildlife.
Meet a tortoise.
SPEAKER 5: Hi, tortoise.
SPEAKER 1: Call Israel.
More math.
Wait for sundown, position the mirrors, track the moon,
take to the sky.
SPEAKER 7: The margin for error is extremely slim.
4:30 is going to be the cutoff, because that's
when we lose the moon.
SPEAKER 1: Not high enough.
40 mile per hour winds.
Lose communication.
Adjust coordinates.
Moon set.
Time's up.
Not tonight.
SPEAKER 4: Even if we miss the target in one degree,
you will not see anything.
SPEAKER 1: Recalculate.
Sunrise.
Breakfast.
One last chance.
SPEAKER 8: 25 degrees.
3-8-7-0--
SPEAKER 1: Moonrise.
99.3% illuminated.
SPEAKER 9: Yep, there we go.
SPEAKER 1: Steady, climbing.
Searching.
Find it.
One point in the sky.
SPEAKER 10: All right!
SPEAKER 11: Yeah!
SPEAKER 1: There's Ivanpah.
There's the moon.
There's Margaret Hamilton.
SPEAKER 9: Yeah, I think that was the best.
It was gorgeous, man, amazing.
SPEAKER 1: Take a picture.
[CAMERA CLICK]
"Margaret by Moonlight."
SPEAKER 12: We'd love for you to open it.
MARGARET HAMILTON: Oh, OK.
I [INAUDIBLE].
SPEAKER 12: You can rip it up there, and then we can--
this is "Margaret by Moonlight."
MARGARET HAMILTON: Oh, that is so cool.
And I noticed how that color was on--