Advancing

Will someone please tell me how it got to be October? It's been almost a month since my last post! It certainly doesn't seem that long and I apologize for it.

September was quite a challenging month at work, both in workload and issues that arose for me and my co-workers. Things are working out, for the most part, but it kept me busy and I was often so tired when I got home that I plopped in front of the TV and didn't do anything, including thinking about my blog.

Just in case work wasn't overwhelming enough, Elon Musk and another co-worker decided to jump into the mix (although not with the purpose of overwhelming me). You might have heard about Elon Musk and SpaceX's plan for Mars exploration and colonization. He's looking at the 2020s to start, which is amazingly soon if you think about it, and his plans are detailed. If you'd like to see the video (which is long and rather technical in places, but also fascinating), try this: Elon Musk Mars Plan Or here's a shorter, more visual look: SpaceX Interplanetary Travel

A co-worker had mentioned the longer video to me so I watched most it. At first I was right there with the plan, but it wasn't long before he got into the technical aspects of the propellant and engines, leaving me behind. I'm certainly not an engineer.

As I contemplated that, my co-worker mentioned the D-Wave computer, which I'd never heard of (that was embarrassing). I Googled it today and it only took a very short time before I found myself floundering. The big problem is that it's based on quantum physics, which is a subject I must admit my brain can't wrap itself around. I've tried, but the concepts are so fantastic that I'm not able to envision or make sense of them. This made the D-Wave computer almost opaque to me. I can sort of understand cooling atoms down until they're almost motionless, and I can almost envision them merging in waves, but then I get lost trying to understand how that would lead to computing anything, especially when it's not clear whether the results would be statistically reliable or whether alternate universes are possible or not.

Whew! I'm not giving up on either of these things, the Mars plan or the D-Wave computer, but I might have to let myself marvel at them without completely comprehending them. I drive a car without knowing the intricacies of its computer, so I guess this is the same thing.

The only thing that gives me pause about this is that I write science fiction. Shouldn't I understand the science? Well, I can try, but I'm not always going to succeed. What I must remember is that I can't pretend to understand something I don't. Believe it or not, there are things in my novels that I couldn't fully explain (besides what's going on in Nick's head, I mean), but I do my best not to make it look like I understand them. Does that make sense? I know nothing about machinery but one of my main characters is a mechanic. I try to say what he's working on without making it obvious I don't know how to do that. I don't make up some kind of tool or piece of equipment so mechanics everywhere can exclaim, "What?! She doesn't know what she's talking about!"

I'm also not going to throw a D-Wave computer into my next novel just because it's the latest thing. I'll leave that to writers who understand it. As for the colonization of Mars, that wasn't even a possibility when I started writing my novels, so I'll just have to live with it if I didn't foresee it. That's the risk a science fiction writer takes. (I feel like I got a few things right, though. Autoguide, anyone?)

I guess I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed. If I think I have to understand everything related to space exploration or include all of the latest technology in my novels, I'm going to write mush. I might do that anyway, but I'm trying to avoid it!

Meanwhile, I can marvel at the latest advances. I hope you will, too.

Perseverance

It sounded like an amazing plan: launch a rocket that deploys its payload and then comes back to land on Earth safely so it can be used again. When SpaceX announced that they were going to do this, I thought it sounded exciting. Not only would it save resources and money, it would be a cool sight to have that rocket settling back down on our planet after its voyage spaceward.

As is so often the case, it didn't quite work that way. The rocket missed the target. The rocket landed perfectly but then tipped over and exploded. I'm sure some people were questioning whether it could ever work correctly.

But SpaceX didn't give up. They kept looking at the problems and trying to solve them. They kept trying, even in the face of embarrassment at the failures. They used each disaster as a learning tool.

And then, one day, it worked. And then it worked again. And then it worked a third time. I have to admit that I think the sight of that rocket gliding down onto the platform is a thing of beauty. Maybe it's the failures that made the success that much more meaningful.

Here's what success looks like from the rocket's point of view:

I congratulate SpaceX for their determination and their success. These are the qualities that will help humanity one day reach the stars.

I'm trying to follow their example: I've just ordered a third proof copy of The Other Side. Let's hope that my third attempt will also be the one that works!

Why We Go On

The news out of California isn't good. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo apparently broke up in mid-air on a test flight. One pilot is in the hospital, and the other, Michael Alsbury, didn't survive.

I want to pause for a moment to send my deepest condolences to Michael Alsbury's family and friends. His loss is a terrible one.

After such a loss, it's natural to step back, to wonder if we're on the right path. Some people are asking if it's worth the risk just to send tourists into space for a brief thrill.

But it's so much more than that. Perhaps it will begin with space tourists, but that most certainly won't be the end of it. Is that where we stopped with airplanes? Boats? The wheel?

Invention and progress aren't things we can stop. They continue, no matter how many people say, "No, we've gone far enough. We can't do any more."

Space travel is no different. We'll persist, we'll keep reaching, we'll keep trying, even after tragedies that make us all bow our heads and weep.

Perhaps no one said it better than Ray Bradbury in his story "The End of the Beginning":

       Tonight, he thought, even if we fail with this first, we'll send a second and a
     third ship and move out to all the planets and later, all the stars. We'll just keep
     going until the big words like immortal and forever take on meaning. Big words,
     yes, that's what we want. Continuity. Since our tongues first moved in our mouths
     we've asked, What does it all mean? No other question made sense, with death
     breathing down our necks. But just let us settle in on ten thousand worlds spinning
     around ten thousand alien suns and the question will fade away. Man will be
     endless and infinite, even as space is endless and infinite. Man will go on, as
     space goes on, forever. Individuals will die as always, but our history will reach
     as far as we'll ever need to see into the future, and with the knowledge of our
     survival for all time to come, we'll know security and thus the answer we've
     always searched for. Gifted with life, the least we can do is preserve and pass on
     the gift to infinity. That's a goal worth shooting for.
       (The Golden Apples of the Sun And Other Stories, New York, Harper Perennial, 2001)

We must go on.

Bonus Post!

I just saw this video today and thought: Wow!

I wanted to share it because I think it's exciting what SpaceX has accomplished. Here's the information that went with the video:

Published on Oct 12, 2013

On Monday, October 7th, Grasshopper completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744m altitude. The view above is taken from a single camera hexacopter, getting closer to the stage than in any previous flight.

Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.

Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.

(FYI: 744 meters is almost half a mile.)
That's right: the rocket goes up and then it comes down, but not in the usual manner. This kind of stuff always makes me giddy. I can't wait to see what's next!