One thing I didn’t mention in this piece is how, after Mars, the list of other viable places to set up colonies falls off sharply. Realistically, we only have the moons of Jupiter and Saturn to consider, which present their own challenges, including the tremendous amount of radiation pouring out from the gas giants.
Anyone who’s gone to Burning Man in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert fundamentally understands the problem of dust. Freakin’ nightmare, is what it is. It ruined my camera, made it hard to breathe, created grit I could feel in my teeth, and it got into the pores of my skin in ways I couldn’t believe. Reading the accounts of…
One of my favorite Woodstock stories is how the Guess Who turned down an invitation because they were busy at work on an album—which turned out to be American Woman, so not a bad sacrifice.
While reading the comments at the University of St. Andrews press release, I noticed that some readers were complaining about the dirty conditions at the facility. Here’s how the University responded:
Good point, this thing needs a better name than Mars 2020 rover. Surprised this isn’t being discussed—at least not to my knowledge.
Visiting a pristine comet would be cool, but a chance encounter with an interstellar object—though unlikely—would be even cooler imo.
The issue is that, given the extreme age of the Milky Way, our galaxy should be absolutely teeming with star hopping aliens by now, but it’s apparently not. That’s what’s meant by the Great Silence.
My goodness—a plan to scan one million stars! SETI is really ramping up. As ambitious as this is, however, imagine how we’re going to feel if and when the data comes back with an equally negative result. The Great Silence is only getting louder.
I reached out to Julius Csotonyi to get his thoughts about the artwork, how he put it together, and the science involved. Here’s what he had to say: