Our next and long over due real return to space.

 This morning I watched the splashdown of the Artemis One spacecraft. I had a link to the live feed in my morning news from the Washington Post. It was most inspiring. And yet, I still felt an emotional sadness of the event. As the coverage continued from when I connected to the link, the news person was saying how there was some number of minutes until the spacecraft was to enter the Earth's atmosphere. It would be traveling at over 25,000 mph when it started to descend.

In an attempt to put that into some kind of perspective. Think of it like this. When you're outside in the winter and you want to warm up your hands. One way of doing this is by briskly rubbing your hands together. The friction of your palms rubbing past each other creates a small amount of heat. Now even if you might be doing this really, really fast. You are probably now moving your two hands any faster than five or ten mph relative to each other. So the amount of heat you are generating at that speed is enough to slightly warm your hands.

It is the heat of that friction that I want to focus on here. The heat generated at five to ten mph compared to the heat that is generated at 25,000 mph. The amount of heat generated is probably comparable to that at the surface of the sun. And yet, some very, very smart people have figured out a way to address this problem and protect the spacecraft. The friction of the spacecraft hitting the atmosphere slows down the forward velocity of the craft. The by-product of that friction is the amount of heat generated. I think that is just staggering that we have figured out a way to manage that problem.

Then, a bit longer into the coverage of the splashdown, the news person announces that the spacecraft has passed through the "blackout" phase of re-entry and radio contact with the spacecraft has resumed. A few moments later, the news person informs that the drone chutes have opened and are slowing the spacecraft's speed of descent. He said the velocity of the spacecraft was now traveling at ONLY 259 mph. 

Now, before I continue, think back to your days in high school. Back to seeing those videos where you would see the crash tests of vehicles being done at 40 mph or 50 mph. Remember seeing the dummies in the car flinging forward on impact? Now think about how that would feel going from 150 mph to 0 in about 1 second. That's the kind of shock on the body that occurs during an opening of a parachute. It's very survivable, but it's something you will never, never forget. I know this personally. Because I felt that when I did a parachute jump when I was in the Navy. Which is a long story I could tell you another day.

Now back to the re-entry news. A camera was mounted inside a part of the Artemis spacecraft that looked into the compartment where the parachutes were located. From that camera, we could see the main canopies deploy and snap open. I think there may have been a video feed delay from that camera because the video of the chute opening seemed jilted. Sort of like a series of stills instead of a smooth continuous motion.

The coverage continued with actually seeing the splashdown and recovery. Which, I think was nice but, a little less dramatic. The announcer then went on to say how this was another historic moment that demonstrated how when we put our best and our brightest to the task. We can achieve great things. It was at that point when I felt that tug on my emotions. It is true that when we, as a people, work together, can achieve great things. When we think things through using reason and logic, we really can achieve great things.

Earlier this week Janet and I watched the recently released movie "Good Night Oppy." It's a movie about the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. If you liked the movie Big Hero 6. You are sure to like the movie Good Night Oppy. I would give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Below is a link to the trailer of the film on YouTube.

Good Night Oppy

You can stream the full movie on Amazon Prime video. Although, be warned. You may, as with me, feel that same emotional tug that I felt at the end. Seeing how we, as a people, actually can achieve great things. But I don't think the numbers are on our side for how it will go for us. The number of smart people is overwhelmingly shadowed by the "not-so-smart" people.

The ones who believe the elections are fake if they don't win. The ones who believe there is a deep state of lizard people who eat babies. The ones who believe in Q anon. The ones who believe that only white Christians should be in power in our country and/or the world. Personally, I think white supremacy is just a form of white fragility. They would rather put down some demographic rather than do something to elevate themselves. It's the path of least resistance for them.

Then there are the ones who believe climate change is fake. The ones who believe vaccines plant mind-controlling chips in our brains. I could go on and on and on. But, I'm sure, you've heard of all this and probably a lot more.

It is when I weigh what we have done and can do against the things so many would rather believe. It is that, that make me feel sadness. It is that other part of our population who would rather choose to believe it's not their fault their lives are so miserable because it conveniently gives then an easy out. It is when I see that, my feelings of joy are deflated when I see that we can do great things. I wish it were different. But, wishing won't change the way things are. My optimism is slipping away for humanity. The numbers just don't seem to be on our side.

A Little at a Time

 It seems to me that we are slowly creeping toward the downfall of our democracy. With each passing day, the news reveals more information about the previous man-child who managed to become our country's leader. Or more information about players and participants of the cult who blissfully follow whatever contrived conspiracy put forth that supports their ideology. 

Previous political right agenda administrations have used the tired and simple-minded tactic of "The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend." To this same philosophy, the followers of the right have comfortably fallen in line. The demographic who are less educated, less creative, and less open-minded have too found comfort in using that same simple-minded philosophy. They hate liberals and inclusiveness, so if some politician incites hatred by the left, then that person must be the one the right will stand behind. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend.

In a way, I believe, this is much like a hard-core religion. If you consider yourself a member of this group, then you don't need to think about what is right for you or the country. Just follow the politician who is hated by the group you hate. Nothing more to think about.

Every day, we slide a little more down the hill. A little further from becoming a country rich in diversity with a place for everyone to contribute. Instead, we grow more and more divided. More delusional about what is real and what is a contrived, made-up, and imagined conspiracy. 

When I was young. I believed that with the passage of time, humanity would continue to mature and find ways to improve. Now that I am old, I have less and less faith in humanity being able to mature. We seem to be locked in a spiral. Circling and circling. Changing this technology for that. Using a national and global communication network to do little more than perpetuate contrived stories that previously were left on the walls of public restroom stalls.

My faith in a better tomorrow is all but evaporated. We have often asked the existential question, "Are We Alone in the universe?" I suspect we very well could be alone. 

On one side of this question, I think we are witnessing the very reason why we have not seen or heard of any evidence that there could be a civilization on another planet. Because that other civilization likely followed the same path we are now on.

On the other side of that existential question, here is what I suspect. There could be other civilizations in the universe that may have discovered our existence. But, they wisely decided to study us before revealing themselves to us. And, after studying us and our ways, they decided it was best to leave us alone. We were either totally uninteresting to those observers or they found us so repulsive that they decided it was best we were left alone. Almost like a parent telling a child. "Yuk! Don't touch that!"

In either case. We are for all purposes and considerations, alone in the universe. Either by something as simple as fate.  Or because we are being left alone by those more mature than we are.