(26 February 2021) Having struggled to get my January photos to post (503 error anyone?) I did at least get excited at the landing on Mars. Amazing technology and also a very good example of global co-operation. It cost roughly £2 billion to land a piece of machinery the size of a large car on the surface.
Which I think is fine as the cost of a “Bunker Buster”- very large American bombs the size of a large car devastating an area and making a big hole in the ground (GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) as they are known), is around $3 million. So, less than 40 of them would cover the costs of the Mars mission (the price of the bombs excludes the cost of the planes, fuel and all the other stuff).
Putting it into context, our (the UK’s) new aircraft carrier cost £3.1 billion- just to build and equip though one of these MOPS could take it out. I am sure that people much cleverer than me have worked this out.
As a further point it is estimated that the entire “Green Wall of Africa” project- to plant trees coast to coast across North Africa to help reduce the spread of the Sahara Desert and create productive areas for people to live sustainably, is estimated to cost $8 billion. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
Space I then got to thinking about space-specifically planets, stars and suchlike rather than an overcrammed wardrobe. I read, watch and enjoy science fiction but wonder, if actually, it is no more a trope than vampire or zombie movies rather than a realistic imagining of the future.
Initially there is a problem with distance. Space is quite big. It takes 6 months (on a good alignment) to get to Mars. It took Voyager One 36 years to leave the solar system. To get to the nearest star system (where there might be habitable planets) would take at least 81,000 years. Which is rather a long time. Sci fi gets round this with
- a “wormhole” a natural phenomenon, (perhaps), which the internet tells me sits near Saturn (no me neither, I fear it leads to an internet wormhole from which escape is difficult) or
- a “portal” (usually left by a long vanished galactic alien race of immense technology and wisdom) or
- the “Hyperdrive” has been invented (assuming the laws of physics have been abolished) and intergalactic travel is a bit like popping over to Spain.
These are not necessarily likely.
Further space is not very safe. Solar radiation is dangerous and even I can see the difficulties of a spaceship covered in lead (though I am told that water and sewage can be in the outer shell-insert crude joke here) to act as shielding.
Secondly the movies show us massive ships with empty corridors and high ceilings whereas the International Space Station (ISS) is claustrophobia inducing to see as they seem to be living in a series of large freezers stuck together. Returning to the cost, that of such a large spaceship would probably be prohibitive.
Finally, there is gravity. Without it our bones dissolve and we turn into jelly fish. Those from the ISS returning can’t walk and are wheeled away; this despite them all being fit and doing all sorts of exercises.
Sci invents either the “anti-gravity drive” or shows ships with spinning things that magically make gravity.
But, why does this matter? It would be pointless to criticise the zombie trope despite 14% of Americans thinking they are real (14% of Americans have a zombie apocalypse plan | YouGov)
It matters because we are not doing enough to save the planet. Many people are still in the mindset of early “explorers” or “colonialists” who would exploit and trash a place and move on to uncharted areas. This is now not possible, as we should be aware. Space exploration and colonising is simply a diversion from the issues we face; it is an unrealistic future fantasy not a road map.Household tip. I have sometimes pondered on whether a battery charger draws power when it is not charging. It actually does; just a very small amount of 5 volts but it is still a waste of power so turn them off at the mains when they are not in use. (What If Charger Is Plugged to Supply But Not Connected To A Device? (scienceabc.com)
January 2021
Having failed to get my 31 chronological pictures of January to post here I have put them on another site should you be interested.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/192170036@N05/9H010S
