Space...the final frontier

Sometimes, in the evening, I like to go outside and look at the stars. The first “star” to appear in the evening is not actually a star at all, it is the planet Jupiter. On some nights you can see Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon. On a very clear night you can see the Internation Space Station floating across the sky. I’ll stand staring into the night sky and think about the universe at large. When I was young I wanted to be a pilot or possibly an astronaut. However, my math skills are at best, second rate. So, that permanently put me out of the running for either of those vocations. However, my interest in all things extra-terrestrial remains. I’ve followed, with interest, the Mars Rovers and the Saturn/Titan missions. We’ve had two probes on the surface of Mars and a satellite orbiting Mars for over two years now. The original plan was that the rovers would last approximately 6-9 months. These machines are powered by solar panels that provide the “charge” for the internal batteries and assorted tools. As of last week, one of the two probes had traveled a total of approximately 6 miles over the last two years. Considering that it takes around 15 minutes for commands to reach Mars from Earth, that’s pretty good. Very careful planning goes into giving the probes direction, because, one false move and the probe could crash or fall of a cliff, and there’s the abrupt end of the mission.
I’ve been reading about the Huygens Probe that is orbiting around Saturn and its extensive system of moons. The largest moon Titan is almost as big as the earth. It has an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and carbon dioxide. The ambient temperature is usually around -200 Fahrenheit. That is extremely cold. Your body would freeze completely through on the spot. It’s also interesting to note that the moon has volcanic activity, so one could extrapolate that Titan has some “hot spots”. The atmosphere isn’t breathable, but one could, with the right technology, convert some of the gases in the atmosphere to something breathable for very short periods, or so scientists believe. The Huygens probe is going to drop a smaller probe that will plummet through the atmosphere and record data along the way, finally crashing into the planet. That should give us something to think about and analyze for many, many years.
Two weeks ago, Pluto was demoted from planet status. Even though we can’t see Pluto with the naked eye, it’s definitely there. Voyager 7 passed by Pluto around 10 years ago and is still heading away from our solar system at approximately 53,000 mph. There is a belt of asteroids called the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto. Voyager 7 will reach the belt in about 10 or 15 more years. Who knows what we’ll find there? Do you think that there is life on other planets? Not just algae, micro-organisms, bacteria or molds, but higher life forms. Life forms that think and reason. Why or why not?