We’ve finally arrived. Voyager I,
the probe launched 35 years ago, has become the first man-made object to exit
the solar system and enter “interstellar space”.
The probe continues to send us messages
to this day. Barring any damage, it has enough power to continue operating
until the year 2020. Thereafter it will become a hunk of lifeless space junk, meandering
through space at the leisurely pace of 10 kilometers a second.
My fellow Earthlings, let us
raise our glasses in a toast! Beyond polluting our planet and our biosphere, we
have graduated. We have now intentionally littered interstellar space.
Here’s to having a descendant on
the globe thousands or millions of years from now to greet the interstellar cops
and pay the fine.
I got a simple theory, it ain't escaping our interplanetary orbit. We are going to learn something about our outer boundary in the process. Either we get unexpected readings and a sudden stop or it goes off in an unexpected trajectory and we start mapping and learning about another force in our universe.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a (perhaps needed) splash of cold water in humanity's face if the probe was dramatically destroyed by the forces at our solar system's boundary.
DeleteMaybe the sensation that we are still so technologically challenged as to be trapped within the confines of these 8 planets would prompt us to do more in the race to space. Humanity seems to work better under pressure, when faced with a clear "oh no, you can't!" moment.