Todays brief blog comes to you courtesy of my spare 'back-up' spectacles, which, to coin a phrase, are 'bloody useless', so please bear with me -
Today is the anniversary of the launch of Pioneer 11 which became the first craft to fly through the rings of Saturn, testing the journey for possible problems prior to the later arrival of Voyager 1 and 2.
The pioneering Pioneers 10 and 11 also carried the plaques suggested by Carl Sagan as a form of potential greeting to any curious lifeforms...Voyager 1 and 2 went further (literally) , with the inclusion of the 'Golden Disk' containing Earth sounds, music, etc.
The only issue is whether our alien friends exist,* and if so, do they have a record player ?...I presume the next explorer craft will just carry a link to a streaming service....
The Pioneer spacecraft were powered down in 1995 following 22 years of exploration, and are now far away, drifting towards a distant constellation - no dramatic Cassini - style plunge into a planet for them, just a slow drift into eternity ( unless an alien intercepts them and posts them back to the 3rd planet from Sol...)
On the subject of historic launches - Virgin Galactic successfully tested their low- orbit craft a few days ago, (following the tragic attempt in 2014 ) , and are now in the burgeoning field of commercial spaceflight- it's getting busy out ** there, with a space hotel*** promised for 2022, as well as the many satellites being launched
Book now before the view of Earth from space becomes pertmanently obscured !
(...you know that feeling when you have just one chance to take the perfect shot of a beautiful view, and someone gets in the way ?)
Yeah, that one - so book now !
The day will come when people confess that their photograph of Earth is only clear of debris thanks to the use of Photoshop ™ - (sad emoji)
Birds have no such problems - in recent news releases it appears that our feathered friends can actually see the Earths magnetic field in some fashion., using a protein known as Cry4...
*Great comic page from ' The Nib', reminding us that (for instance) the chemical signature of a fish could be the same chemical signature as a rock - so let's not be over-excited about exo-worlds
** I'm never really sure whether it's 'out ' there or 'up' there...hmmm
***Catering in the space hotel may well be using salad crops / vegetables of the kind grown recently in Antarctica by German researchers
 |
| Artists impression NASA/ D. Guidice |
The pioneering Pioneers 10 and 11 also carried the plaques suggested by Carl Sagan as a form of potential greeting to any curious lifeforms...Voyager 1 and 2 went further (literally) , with the inclusion of the 'Golden Disk' containing Earth sounds, music, etc.
The only issue is whether our alien friends exist,* and if so, do they have a record player ?...I presume the next explorer craft will just carry a link to a streaming service....
The Pioneer spacecraft were powered down in 1995 following 22 years of exploration, and are now far away, drifting towards a distant constellation - no dramatic Cassini - style plunge into a planet for them, just a slow drift into eternity ( unless an alien intercepts them and posts them back to the 3rd planet from Sol...)
 |
| The plaque on Pioneers 10 / 11... complete with address details |
Book now before the view of Earth from space becomes pertmanently obscured !
(...you know that feeling when you have just one chance to take the perfect shot of a beautiful view, and someone gets in the way ?)
Yeah, that one - so book now !
The day will come when people confess that their photograph of Earth is only clear of debris thanks to the use of Photoshop ™ - (sad emoji)
Birds have no such problems - in recent news releases it appears that our feathered friends can actually see the Earths magnetic field in some fashion., using a protein known as Cry4...
*Great comic page from ' The Nib', reminding us that (for instance) the chemical signature of a fish could be the same chemical signature as a rock - so let's not be over-excited about exo-worlds
** I'm never really sure whether it's 'out ' there or 'up' there...hmmm
***Catering in the space hotel may well be using salad crops / vegetables of the kind grown recently in Antarctica by German researchers
