When the first Mars-landing took place the machine, we now discover, fell over. It landed on a hillock and tipped. At least that is the best guess of the investigators who devised later modules to be self-righting.
A NASA scientist, interviewed at the time of the failure, said this:
Our probe is neither sending data nor receiving commands - a very serious anomaly.
It struck me that this would be a good test of the effectivenes of a church's various ministries. Can mission control still instruct it? Is it still sending useful data (numerical or spiritual growth)? If the answer to these two questions is in the negative then that too would be a serious anomaly.
Now, what do you need to go out and stop?
Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Hubble Advent
If you want a picture to ponder rather than words then Doug at Metacatholic has pointed me to the Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar. A different, astonishing image for every day of the season.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Venus
I made an elementary pin-hole camera using my binoculars and two pieces of card. This enabled me to watch the transition of Venus safely yesterday. It was fascinating. Whilst, on the face of it, watching a dot the size of a pin-head move across a disc the size of a small cup appears quite dull I was struck by the sheer size of the real things.
Venus is roughly the same size as Earth and it was a further 65 million miles or so from Venus to the Sun at the time of the transition. I now realise, I think for the first time ever, quite how big our Sun is. As Sting puts it, ‘How fragile we are.’
Venus is roughly the same size as Earth and it was a further 65 million miles or so from Venus to the Sun at the time of the transition. I now realise, I think for the first time ever, quite how big our Sun is. As Sting puts it, ‘How fragile we are.’
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)