Chasing A Comet
Written by Major Tom
Filed under: Earth & Environment
January 16, 2006
It could be the most traveled piece of metal in the history of mankind, if it is not already. Stardust is that one space capsule that amazingly went 3 billion miles into space in a seven year period, in order to chase a comet (the Wild-2 that is highly believed to be part of the mysterious Kuiper Belt). Launch in 1999, the space capsule returned to Earth atmosphere on Sunday amidst animated fanfare throughout the scientific world.
Scientists is now hailing its return to Earth as both momentous and ground-breaking considering that it is only the first time that a space mission had brought back to Earth dust particles from a comet, elements that are said to be unchanged since the formation of our solar system. Specimens from a comet’s tail would be greatly helpful in proving the widely-known hypothesis that some elements found in a comet contains water and it was thought by many scientists that comets had helped caused the onset of life here on Earth by introducing life-giving substances into a nascent Earth atmosphere bit by bit—so many eons ago. Eventually, the study to be conducted on the dust specimens brought back by Stardust could possibly help scientist tinker more with the idea of introducing life on other nearby planets, more particularly the red planet Mars.
As it appears, the feat achieved by Stardust is so celebrated that eventually it seems, even machines can be heroes too. It always happens in movies before. But now it’s a reality.
Actually, the most travelled piece of metal in history is Voyager. It was sent into space more than 2 decades ago and is still going, and going, and going….
Anyways, I watched the historic landing on CNN yesterday. And it looks like everyone in NASA is very excited.
Comment by snglguy — January 16, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
Thanks for the clarification snglguy. Anyway, the return of Stardust is such an amazing feat considering that it take such ultimate accuracy in calculation and formula in order to chase a moving object in space. Man’s harnessing of technology gets better and better as the years come.
Comment by Major Tom — January 17, 2006 @ 5:35 am
Yeah, that was the first thing that came into my mind when they first suggested the project years ago. How will they be able to calculate the trajectory considering that there are a million things that can happen in space. But, they were able to do it. I really admire those geeks at NASA…
Comment by snglguy — January 17, 2006 @ 11:57 am
what i admire about some movies is those concepts they come up with do come true. happened a lot of times and still happening. it was like nothing is impossible.
Comment by bing — January 17, 2006 @ 1:44 pm
I just saw a news report about the Stardust. It’s quite an achievement and definitely a step forward in R&D for scientists all over the globe.
Comment by duke — January 17, 2006 @ 3:47 pm
Come to think of it the technology they use for these space missions could be made known to the public for commerical use but that is I guess the prerogative of the US govt. The technology still considered as military specifications.They say the microwave oven was already in use in the military decades before it was rolled out to the public sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s.
Comment by bw — January 18, 2006 @ 4:05 am
To snglguy: Its indeed mind-boggling to us mere mortals but they’ve done it. I guess there comes that folk theory that says: If you think it can happen, It possibly could happen. That might sum up the almost mystical power of the human mind. They say, human beings nowadays are just utilizing at most 5% of the capacity or potential of the brain. There must be 95% more possibilities out there.
To Bing: Someday Bing, there’d be a time when everything or most of the things we thought were impossible, are happening before my eyes. Life imitating art is sometimes good to us I think, especially when it’s all about man’s advancement in technology.
To Duke: That’s what they are saying Duke. And I think, it really is amazing and momentous for humanity.
To Buffwings: I hope that day will come where that kind of technology could be harnessed for public and commercial purposes. Imagine the possibilities in the field of communicationa and transport. Our lives would be much better by then. I believe it ain’t that far till we see these things made for common ultilization. I remember also that the Internet was solely for military purpose or use before Pentagon decided to make it available to every John and Jane.
Comment by Major Tom — January 18, 2006 @ 6:02 am
Speaking of chasing the comet, did you know that an asteroid was named after a Filipino priest, Fr. Vistor Badillo. it is called Badillo Asteroid (Minor Planet 4866) by the InternationalAstronomical Union.
The sad fact is that those in the government and our politicians never honor the guy. I have no idea also whether the Phil. media covered this.
Comment by myepinoy — January 21, 2006 @ 12:59 pm
To myepinoy: Who would have thought that a fellow countryman of ours have such kind of distinction. You are right, Fr. Badillo should be honored and given some fame so as to give inspiration and encouragement to all of us, especially young Filipinos who can be so fascinated with science and space.
Comment by Major Tom — January 23, 2006 @ 6:54 am