3.86 billion miles - 7 years - and down to earth again - almost on X marks the spot - Bennu sends us a present of 250g (looked it up on Google 8.81549oz) of gritty bits of Asteroid as a present (well actually we stole it didn't we - we weren't handed it on a plate). Apparently a quarter of the rubble is going to be distributed around the world to 35 institutions (a few milligrams each), then a bit kept for Nasa and then a bit sealed away (this is the bit I like best of all) for future generations using:
"techniques not yet designed"
"technologies yet to be developed"
and best of all:
"using questions not yet thought of and answered".
Am I getting old or what? My immediate thought was 'do I really want to know or has my brain shut down?'
And I was transported back to the last century and the Moon Landing and my son D with his Mum and Dad - all running down the path and rushing in to my parents' house to see if they had landed on the moon, only to find Mum and Dad hadn't even got the TV on and were calmly sitting eating their lunch.
"Why would we have the telly on? You don't want to be bothered with all that rubbish surely?"
Oh dear - am I getting old? Surely not. No - perk up old dear - read the article again (and then again) and try to make sense of it. I am still part of the 21st century even if I would rather not be.
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14 comments:
I was amazed by the announcement, trying to wrap my mind around something man-made traveling so far and coming back safely.
Nearly unbelievable, isn't it? Math, science, and very, very careful calculations seem to still work. Raise your glass to those who over the centuries have worked wonders and may these times still nurture that kind of accomplishment!
My grandmothers were born in the 1880s and lived to see men on the moon.
Hugs!
The most significant discovery was finding hydrogen on the moon. Some think a space station with people living on the moon becomes more viable with the water source potential. Only time will tell. It does seem a bit like science fiction becoming reality...maybe.
I can help thinking that all the money poured into this and other space projects could be better spent on taking better care of our own planet. Our record up to now leaves much to be desired.
I know there are many who question the value of this kind of thing, but the cost works out as very little per head of population, and the potential scientific benefits could be great for everyone. We can't even predict what those benefits might be, but such is the nature of research and exploration. There would be no Blogger without it.
Your parents at the table was so funny!
In the 1980's, my parents were invited to a fabulous wedding in a state of Aust. that Mum had never been to before. Dad said "Why would I want to go to Perth. I was there during the war."
That made me laugh too.
There's a lot of things that make us scratch our heads in either confusion, bewilderment or wry amusement - the human condition I guess. - Pam.
I also see the value in obtaining such a substance, even if we don't know what to do with it yet. At one time DNA as a crime-solver was a distant dream, but evidence was kept in the hope that one day something would be possible.
I well remember the first Moon landing - watching in an hotel in Torquay where I was visiting on the day off from our school cadet corps summer camp. Whilst at Uni I also got to see a sample of Moon rock - just some dark gray crumbs in a sealed container, and really rather boring!
I think it's stupendous! Adventures before Mars.
For me it was the SEVEN YEARS that really impressed. After all that time to get the thing to land exactly where you wanted was really quite amazing. I hope the 'dust' lives up to expectations.
It was big news on TV here, too.
When I once asked my Mum whether she was watching the Moon Landing in 1969, she looked at me and said: "You were one year old, and your sister was two. What do you think I was doing?" She had her hands full with raising the two of us, making sure that my Dad (who worked on night shifts as a printer of our town's daily newspaper) would be able to sleep during the day - no time or inclination to sit down in front of the TV.
Well in a little known event in Todmorden, the library hosted from Nasa several stones from outer space, moon rocks being one of them a couple of weeks ago.(I didn't go and see sadly) Knowledge even from the finest dust is worth knowing. But it costs a helluva lot to get up into space.
Well, my immediate question is how will they store it until they develop the technology to store it? Very strange, isn't it? But I suppose that is one of those questions that no one has asked yet.
Librarian - this made me smile - that generation of mums had the right idea!
Veg artist - very good point.
Tasker - you have said it as it is I think
Thank you for contributing and adding to my thoughts on th matter. Your comments really make me think and in the long run even change my mind on some subjects.
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