TT #7 – HOW TO GET INTO SPACE

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INTRODUCTION

THursday THirteen #7 coming up. I’ve been doing this and that in a down-to-earth sort of way, so this week I thought I’d look up and take us off the planet all together. And I mean that literally.
Today we’re going to look at how we could get into space, and also why we should do it. For one reason, we’re here, and it’s there. We don’t like being somewhere when we could be somewhere else.

COUNTDOWN

13. The first thing to realise about space exploration is it hasn’t begun yet. All we seem to do is send unmanned toys to Mars and Venus, and fly around the planet in high orbit like flies buzzing around something dead.

12. Some would say the Apollo missions were real exploration. After all, we got to the Moon, man! Sorry, it was nothing of the sort. It was simple oneupmanship – a consequence of the Cold War, and the determination to beat the Commies.

11. We SHOULD be getting out there. The urge to explore has been the crowning glory of the human race, moving out of our natural habitats in Prehistoric times, and eventually navigating the planet. We are Homo Curious, you see. We need to know!

10. But at present, it has all stopped. Maybe it’s because space is such a magnificent, terrifying leap. And because we’ve lost our courage, we’ve descended into the trivia and celebrity obsessed world of today. In other words, we’re burying our heads in the sand.

9. Another problem to space exploration proper is government. Space is run by government, but history shows they are terrible explorers. All known exploration in our history has been pushed forward by businessmen, intent on trade. Governments play catch-up.

8. For that reason, Big Biz should be looking spacewards, not fuelling our trivia obsessed society. They’re the real cowards, happy with their profits. Well, listen, Big Biz. Get the hell off of this planet!

7. Some people say space exploration is of no use to us. This is wrong. One thing that is becoming clear is that real exploration cannot be done by any single country. It would be a planetary affair. And I can think of no better impulse to bring us together more as a species. So there is an advantage. Peace.

6. The media can play its part. Every advance in our society has come due to a new idea. We need a Big Story to fuel us. So it’s time to think up a good Big Story about our planet, and its place in the Cosmos. Get us all inspired!

5. Our solar system holds wonders by the million, all waiting to be explored. Our technologists are up to the task of building adequate space vessels and closed habitats capable of providing for small colonies. The only thing holding us back is our fear.

4. And I’m not just talking about our solar system, either. Ever since the 1960s plans have been on the drawing board for innovative designs of fast and generational starships, with innovative engines, even collecting hydrogen fuel as they go to the stars.

3. Many believe faster-than-light travel is impossible because of the barrier placed by Einstein. But what we forget is Relativity is not a theory of the universe, but of man. And the best way to find out if such travel is feasible is to place an imperative on scientists to find out. I, for one, think it’s bunkum.

2. Star travel could even begin a new form of existence for man, as one of the peculiarities of such travel is that the faster you travel, the more time slows down. So if light speed was attained, a journey that seems to take years viewed from Earth, would only actually only take a matter of weeks on the ship. Hence, our new star travellers could actually live through many centuries.

1. One final barrier is the idea that man is too violent and destructive to be let loose in space. From my experience, man is never more violent than when he is bored. When he has a real mission to achieve, he excels as a human being. So, is it time for Blast-Off?

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

HOW IT WORKS?

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What’s on today: A post inspired by a Three Word Wednesday prompt. Have you had a go yet? … PLUS … A poem for Totally Optional Prompts. Click Eye On the World for my current affairs.
YOU KNOW IT’S THE WRITE WAY

HOW IT WORKS?

And as he walked through the wasteland, he knew his life was entering a new stage. He had questioned much of late – not only his life, but his society, his culture, his meaning …
And the sun burnt down upon him, and as he wandered he felt he lost his mind. Demons assaulted him from all sides, and he descended to the ultimate point of knowledge.

Touching this knowledge proved difficult, at first.

But he persevered, tried to make sense of it all, and eventually he saw, he knew – all was visible. And it felt good.
And he returned to the village, and he told his friends of what he had seen, and they did not believe him. But he knew it to be true, and he began to preach.
And one day someone came to him and said: I can see it, too. And from then on, there were two to tell what they had seen, and then there were four, and then there were eight, and then what they had seen came to the knowledge of the shaman.
And the shaman approached him and said: you tell lies. And he said he did not. And he said it with conviction, and his eyes burned with truth, and as the shaman looked into those eyes, he knew that old truth was no more. And the people rejoiced.
And the people found purpose and he said: build a temple, and it was so. And it was a mighty temple, and it imbued the people with good works, and they looked after the temple and looked after each other, for he had told them it was good.
And the chief heard of what they had seen and went to him and said: is what you have seen more powerful than what has been seen before? And he said yes.
And the chief feared the village over the hill, for they were powerful, and they stole their food. And the chief realized new power in the people who had seen, and he rallied them, and said: what you have seen makes you strong and we no longer need to fear.
And they went out in strength to the village over the hill, and the blood flowed and they were victorious. And the chief made a pact with him, one to tell of the truth, the other to guarantee the power of truth, and as the ages passed, and he and the chiefs came and went, great works of humanity were achieved, and great works of art advanced the knowledge of the world, and also the blood flowed as rivers, as the truth they had seen became predominant.
And finally, the scribe gathered the tales of what had been seen. And he took his parchment, and he began:
I am the Lord,
Thy Idea.

© Anthony North, April 2008

THE SPACEMAN

He sits in expectation, upon a massive bomb,
a genuine spaceman hero, but his name’s not Major Tom;
He’s about to go on an odyssey, mankind’s most noble pursuit,
a rocket taking him into space, dressed in a space suit;
He leaves planet Earth, it’s atmosphere, and exists in a dark, cold void,
the best of our technology – with him, it is deployed;
His mind is full of anxiety, what secrets will he learn,
as he blasts past the moon, Mars, Venus, and his retro-rockets burn?
He exists in the land of gods, of celestial tales of awe,
but this supernatural hog-wash, he is determined to ignore;
We placed our cultural interpretations upon this mighty, final frontier,
filled with demons, monsters, augurs, created from our fear;
But now, at last, the spaceman comes, to remove these cultural blinds,
adding knowledge of the unknown, based upon his finds;
But wait! apart from the man in the Moon, this spaceman, does not exist,
we haven’t raised the courage as we stew in a trivia-based mist;
Yet it is surely our destiny, which we, at present, deny,
to send him courageously,
gloriously,
magnificently,
to see what’s really above the sky

(c) Anthony North, April 2008