21st century explorers - Antonio Huertas Peña

6.2

21st century explorers.

Travellers´ Tales.

Free download of the chapter in PDF

Music credits

I am not mistaken if I affirm that everyone has a certain degree of concern and curiosity towards the unknown. This desire to discover, to go further or to discover new places, sometimes surpasses the imaginable. In the 17th century, a small European republic had this concern. At that time, the only motivation that existed on earth to move from one place to another was to carry out commercial activities between different points of the planet, or at least between the points of our world that were known until now.

The Netherlands were pioneers in this regard. During that same century and the following, the human species from that republic began to venture anywhere on our planet, and most importantly, not only for commercial interests, but also for other motivations. These motivations were among others, numerous scientific concerns, discovery of new lands, knowledge, in general scientific evolution.

All this caused that Holland, although it was a small country, became a place with great freedom of thought. They perfected ships, advanced their technology, and even became Europe's leading publishers and booksellers, translating writings into other languages.

Just as it happened in the 17th century, it is happening today in our society. In the 21st century, what was once Holland, is now the entire world. It is true that we have not yet explored the entirety of our globe (we have the farthest reaches of our deep sea), but we continue to be curious about the unknown beyond our world. We maintain the need to know more, to advance, to improve ourselves, to communicate ... With whom? or, with what? ... But, let's stop beating around the bush. It is clear that there is life out there, of that I am sure. Yes, beyond the stratosphere. Beyond our galaxy.

Let's stop to think a little bit. Do we really believe that we are alone? It would be crazy to affirm that we all think the same, that is impossible. But there are people, the new "Dutch", who have their own motivations, their own concerns to know more, to know, to explore ... I think that is the word that defines us: "explore". We have become true explorers of the galaxy, even though we have not yet been able to travel beyond the moon. But there are our concerns. That engine that propels us into the unknown.

If in 1969 we were able to reach our satellite, with technology so basic that even our own children would doubt it, what could we not do today. We have just 100.000 times more technology¹ in the palm of our hands than Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin used to land on our natural satellite, and they even came back. Excuse me for pulling irony, but from my humble position, that of a professor of Technology from any center in our nation, I feel incapable of believing that we are the only living beings that inhabit this and other galaxies.

And now is when you will be thinking: “Another crazy man from Star Trek [1], Star Wars [2] and E.T. [3]". It is true that I have grown up knowing these films, although I have to say that I have never been a fan of them. In fact, I still make me a mess with the Star Wars ones, that if the fourth is the first, that if the fifth is the second ... The only thing I know for sure is that Yoda is the short green grandfather with the pointy-eared cane that in one of those sequels hits more jumps than a rocker in a Mago de Oz concert [4]. I have not seen all of Star Trek films, excuse me the followers of both sagas. It is true that E.T. and Men in Black [5] I have seen them several times, but what I am trying to communicate is that I am not a fan of the extra-terrestrial world.

What is true is that more than once I have stopped to think that the universe is too big for us, the human being and all the species that share this planet, to be the only living beings that coexist among all these galaxies. I'm not talking about ships manned by aliens more advanced than we are, nor about a green little men of a meter and a half, big heads and bulging eyes that visit us from time to time. I'm talking about life in general. Of unicellular, bicellular microorganisms or with the cells that they have, that can inhabit other planets. It is this and other reasons that drives us to explore the unknown.

We have recently been commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of man's arrival on the moon. This fact has motivated powers such as the American, it was not surprising, or like the Russian, who has always been there, or like the Chinese, who have been betting heavily, to prepare expeditions that, in the future, will make us know more than the already known of our universe. We have been able to photograph Mars or Saturn's rings, both from our ground-based observatories and from unmanned spacecraft that have been lost beyond our solar system. We have terrestrial technology perched on our neighboring planet, sending us information, not just what it is today, but what it was millions of years ago. I find it hard to believe that we are left alone with this.

They say that the person who will walk on Mars has already been born. I hope to stay alive the day he or she do it. I had not yet been born the day when Armstrong and Aldrin first set foot on the moon, so I couldn't live that moment. That is why I would like to witness live the day we will do the same on our neighboring planet. I do not know if that man or woman, when the time comes, will be aware of his feat, that millions of people will follow his movements on earth, that it will mark another important milestone in our explorations.

A Grazing Encounter Between Two Spiral Galaxies.

(Source: NASA - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/9467312978/in/photostream/)

We know that before all that, we will have to build such infrastructure on the moon to ensure survival on our satellite. Not because we are going to live there, but to use it as a base camp. It is logical, because the gravity on the moon is less than on Earth, and we would need less fuel to take off, so it would be a good place to place our launch pad. Once this important point has been overcome, we would have to send an expedition to what is already half known, as the planet Mars. We have Rovers² vehicles gathering information on said planet, in addition, during this year 2020, it is planned to send four other space missions, whose main objective will be to assess whether the planet can be habitable. If yes, imagine what the next step would be.

I want to put myself in this position, imagining that Mars can be habitable. From here I see us sending new expeditions to other planets, to other worlds. It is possible that in these new expeditions we will find minerals or other types of alternative fuels to those we already know, that increase our capacity for action and make us more efficient. We are only thinking about the people who will lead these expeditions, but we cannot leave aside the explorers who from their laboratories will create and facilitate the possibility that we can travel to other places. Those scientists, men and women, who will work for the future. People whom, by chance of life, I could be teaching today. For me it would be an enormous pride to have been part of the motivation of these people, it would be something indescribable.

Technology is advancing exponentially. Ordinary citizens are not able to keep up with it. We have entered a phase in which it is practically uncontrollable with the general knowledge we have. I only hope that the people who do control it do so in a fruitful and beneficial way for humanity. Not only thinking about themselves, but thinking about everyone, about the human being, and they will see that it is beneficial for everyone. May they use it for good, to instruct us, to train us, and to avoid conflicts between us. At the moment we only have one planet, the one we have been exploring for centuries, and we have no other.

Technology is advancing exponentially. Ordinary citizens are not able to keep up with it. We have entered a phase in which it is practically uncontrollable with the general knowledge we have. I only hope that the people who do control it do so in a fruitful and beneficial way for humanity. Not only thinking about themselves, but thinking about everyone, about the human being, and they will see that it is beneficial for everyone. May they use it for good, to instruct us, to train us, and to avoid conflicts between us. At the moment we only have one planet, the one we have been exploring for centuries, and we have no other.

Ok, it is true that the latter has been closer to a science fiction movie script, but as they said in the X-Files series [6]: "The truth is out there." Let's explore it !!

Notes:

¹ The technology used in the manufacture of a mobile phone is known to be 100,000 times superior to the on-board computer carried by the Apollo 11 crew. Hence the importance of his feat and the hope that we will go even further.

² These types of vehicles are those used in the last unmanned missions to Mars, since they have different elements that provide them with sufficient autonomy and equipment to collect samples. During the writing of this writing, tests are being carried out on the last Rover that NASA will send to Mars.

References:

[1] Star Trek. American media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. First it was born as a television series. Already in this century, four more films were taken to the cinema.

[2] Star Wars. It is another American franchise made up primarily of a series of films conceived by the American filmmaker George Lucas. In addition to the cinematographic field, the franchise includes a wide variety of merchandising products.

[3] E.T. the alien. 1982 American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg.

[4] Mago de Oz. Spanish Folk Metal rock band founded in 1988 by drummer Txus di Fellatio in the Begoña neighborhood of Madrid.

[5] Men in Black. 1997 science fiction movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The film is an adaptation of Lowell Cunningham's eponymous cartoon. Two more sequels followed.

[6] File X. American science fiction and mystery television series created by Chris Carter.

Bibliography:

(1) C. Sagan, 1980, Cosmos, New York, Random House.

Antonio Huertas Peña.

Technical industrial engineer. Engineering degree.

Teacher / Coordinator FP Dual Training Cycles. Technical Department in Professional Schools Sagrada Familia de Andújar, Jaén.