Reasons To Love The Curiosity Of Humanity, Number 1.
For those of you that know me and know my default literature setting. I am an avid Science Fiction man I shall continue to be so, regardless of the down the nose snobbery that Sci fi authors and fans experience from the literary types. I will always prefer to have the opportunity to walk with Paul Atreides through the deserts of Arrakis, in 'Dune', or discuss psychohistory with Hari Seldon on the planet of Terminus, from the 'Foundation' series of books, created from the minds of Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov. I for one would rather not have to visit Fanny Price in Mansfield Park, or participate in some turgid lesson on manners in the company of Elizabeth Bennet. I would, saying that, like to see how Elizabeth Bennet's manners helps her when Darth Vader arrives overhead in Meryton in his TIE Fighter but that another book.
I think the main reason why I do have a passion about the Science Fiction genre is that there are no limits to what you can write or project from your mind. The only limit truly is your own creativity. With most other forms of literature there are realism bundaries, which if passed define your work as 'unreal'. For Instance, Pride and prejudice based in Victorian England could not therefore, introduce a Model T ford, as this would mean the reader no longer believes the work to be 'of its context'. If this is the case then you stray into Science Fiction even more disrespected little brother, the world of the 'fantasy' Genre.
Which leads me onto limits and why this story is so exciting. Launched 33years ago one year and one month after I was born, and looking into the exact launch date, 9th May 1977 exactly the same date that my daughter was born 32yrs later (Had I known this at the time my daughters passport may well have contained the initials G.V. A somewhat basic space probe called Voyager was launched. Its mission was to explore the outer planets in our solar system, Saturn, Jupiter. These planets are quite a distance from us, it would take time, even at colossal speeds and still it is out there moving further from us. travelling at 38,000 miles per hour. Even Clarkson would be impressed by that speed, no doubt only controllable by a space stig.
The interest in the story is that the devices on the probe have now begun registering that solar winds are going sideways, the Sun's solar winds do not reach any further than the distance this probe is from us. It has reached the end of our solar system and they say it is moving into a part of the universe that links us to the rest and the solar winds of other stars. It, to me is mindblowing that after a year I was born to now it has reached the end of our solar system and heads into deep space, which even the most ardent non-scientist, non-sci fi fan must admit is a pretty spectacular event.
One of my recrruing dreams is to one day experience space, much like David Bowman in Space Odyssey 2001. I thought last night how this probe could be improved and I imagined a giant glass dome on the front of the probe allowing a panoramic view of space. I imagined behind that dome, a chair, just a solitary chair and then sat in that chair I would love to be, watching the universe open up before my very eyes. I will never see the gap between our solar system and the Heliosphere into the heliosheath and beyond into intersellar space, but and this is a huge but, I can dream of how wondrous it no doubt would appear to the human eye and I am convinced one day a human eye will see that. I'd like it to be a relation, it may well be, who knows.
I would imagine that I could not improve on the words of Dave Bowman in space Odyssey when he visits the Monolith. With such darkness around him and around the end of our solar system the sky must just be packed full of light and he said, 'Oh my God, it's full of stars'. The outer solar system is and must be the same. Shame I will never get to see it.
I think the main reason why I do have a passion about the Science Fiction genre is that there are no limits to what you can write or project from your mind. The only limit truly is your own creativity. With most other forms of literature there are realism bundaries, which if passed define your work as 'unreal'. For Instance, Pride and prejudice based in Victorian England could not therefore, introduce a Model T ford, as this would mean the reader no longer believes the work to be 'of its context'. If this is the case then you stray into Science Fiction even more disrespected little brother, the world of the 'fantasy' Genre.
Which leads me onto limits and why this story is so exciting. Launched 33years ago one year and one month after I was born, and looking into the exact launch date, 9th May 1977 exactly the same date that my daughter was born 32yrs later (Had I known this at the time my daughters passport may well have contained the initials G.V. A somewhat basic space probe called Voyager was launched. Its mission was to explore the outer planets in our solar system, Saturn, Jupiter. These planets are quite a distance from us, it would take time, even at colossal speeds and still it is out there moving further from us. travelling at 38,000 miles per hour. Even Clarkson would be impressed by that speed, no doubt only controllable by a space stig.
The interest in the story is that the devices on the probe have now begun registering that solar winds are going sideways, the Sun's solar winds do not reach any further than the distance this probe is from us. It has reached the end of our solar system and they say it is moving into a part of the universe that links us to the rest and the solar winds of other stars. It, to me is mindblowing that after a year I was born to now it has reached the end of our solar system and heads into deep space, which even the most ardent non-scientist, non-sci fi fan must admit is a pretty spectacular event.
One of my recrruing dreams is to one day experience space, much like David Bowman in Space Odyssey 2001. I thought last night how this probe could be improved and I imagined a giant glass dome on the front of the probe allowing a panoramic view of space. I imagined behind that dome, a chair, just a solitary chair and then sat in that chair I would love to be, watching the universe open up before my very eyes. I will never see the gap between our solar system and the Heliosphere into the heliosheath and beyond into intersellar space, but and this is a huge but, I can dream of how wondrous it no doubt would appear to the human eye and I am convinced one day a human eye will see that. I'd like it to be a relation, it may well be, who knows.
I would imagine that I could not improve on the words of Dave Bowman in space Odyssey when he visits the Monolith. With such darkness around him and around the end of our solar system the sky must just be packed full of light and he said, 'Oh my God, it's full of stars'. The outer solar system is and must be the same. Shame I will never get to see it.
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