PGibson
07Mar09
2:30pm
NASA is launching the Kepler telescope from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (in Florida) on March 7, 2009, on a mission to search the galaxy for other earth-like planets. The Kepler spacecraft was named after Johannes Kepler (who pioneered the laws of planetary motion in the 17th century) and cost approximately $600 million dollars. The Kepler’s mission goal is essentially to take a planet census of the Milky Way galaxy. Its main focus however, will be in the direction of the Cygnus & Lyra constellations (which are 600 and 3,000 light years form Earth). The Kepler’s expedition is intended to last for three and a half years but the spacecraft contains enough fuel to extend its mission up to six years. Scientists are hoping to determine whether earth is a single unique planet, if we are truly alone in the world, or if earth is only one of many planets capable of sustaining life.
The potential findings from explorations such as the Kepler mission could have a profound impact on the future of mankind in terms of its existence or extinction. The current perception of the universe is limited to a single life sustaining planet, whose population may soon outgrow it, and whose resources may run out. Many attitudes are less than caring in regards to humanity, opting instead for greed based goals such as financial gain, repression, and domination. The positive effects of finding a life sustaining planet could be immense, potentially leading to global unification towards a new common goal. The stark reality of not finding additional lands to exploit is not necessarily detrimental but may have a variety of potential outcomes. Two potential outcomes are to further enhance current global efforts of unification and equality towards a common future survival (for all people and the planet), or of course the more dire situation of increased stratification that could act to plunge the entire planet to extinction. The potential to begin a new chapter in history that is founded on having overcome past differences and forging a new common future that benefits all people sound like something from a movie, but it could be our future. One that I hope man can successfully accomplish whether it is on a single planet or many.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090306-kepler-planethunter-launch-preview.html
2 comments:
I love astronomy and have always been fascinated by its mysteries. On the other hand I think this is pointless at this TIME of out economy crisis. 600 Million dollars is s lot of money that could have been put towards something that would generate a little more return right now. An example would be so the government could actually pay back tax returns. We could see something from using it toward that...not 600 million for something that is 600 and 3,00 light years away from earth.
I agree with you in that there needs to be more initiative to explore the possibilities of another life sustaining planet in our solar system, we need to focus less on communication technologies and more on technologies concerning space exploration in the years to come.
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