January 19, 2004Of Other Planets and the Smallness of Man
It is pretty crazy when you think about it. The distances involved are just massive. The Voyager probes won't come close to another star for close to 40,000 years. Crazy. I sometimes try and ponder what kinds of things could be going on out there in deep space; strange technologically advanced civilizations, massive interstellar trading networks, intergalactic battles pitting good versus evil, the force, giant space turtles, killer clowns, aliens sitting in offices pushing paper like substances across vaguely desk-like surfaces while pondering the stars. All of this really epic crap could be going on and we are stuck here on Earth. With space exploration in its infancy, we can only imagine what could be out there. (Well, that and look at some cool pictures.) Barring a massive alien invasion or a radio "hello" discovered by the cool guys at SETI, it is unlikely we will ever know with any certainty what is out there. So while I sit here typing away, I think of Voyager 1 hurtling through the dark vacuum of space. Billions of miles away from Earth, Voyager is carrying a message from humanity and contains directions on how to get to back to Earth. I wonder if anyone will ever get the message. Until then, I will have to be content with pictures of Mars and Venus. Can you believe that the Russians landed multiple probes on Venus? And they took pictures? Damn. It is frustrating to think that, when it comes to space travel, we are trapped in the Christopher Columbus stages. Ugh. Comments
Post a comment
|
Well, we have a lander on Mars that is soon to be joined by another. The lander is sending wonderful photographs of the Martian landscape.