Curiosity’s ‘Postcard’ of ‘Marker Band Valley
I have wanted to travel to Mars and explore the Universe since I saw my first Episode of ” Star Trek ” when I was about five years old.
It seemed like a real possibility because I believed all the Sci-Fi stories where one day anyone would able to book passage on a space ship and see the Solar System (for starters) before heading out to to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!
But the reality right now in 2025 is that unless you’re a billionaire or a socialite or a pop star or some rich person’s ‘significant other, your backside is going to remain here on Earth:
How much does it cost for a person to go to space?
-From Starwalk
- Virgin Galactic: $250,000 for a 2-hour suborbital flight at an altitude of 80 km;
- Blue Origin: approximately $300,000 for 12 minutes suborbital flight at an altitude of 100 km;
- Axiom Space: $55 million for a 10-day orbital flight;
- Space Perspective: $125,000 for a 6-hour flight to the edge of space (32 km above the Earth).
So I suppose my fear for the future is this- that Rich people will be established as Gods because only Rich people will be able to explore and dwell among the stars in the Heavens.
It would appear that people like me- and my dog will be bound to Earth because we most definitely are NOT Gods. Sometimes I think my dog might think I am, but seriously he probably is only humoring me.
We both know our cats were actual Gods.
All dogs go to Mars!
But I still have a little hope that some of us mere mortals will also be able to find our way onto space ships- that hope is something I have learned from the British SCI-FI show ” Red Dwarf “.
This is Lister- he’s a crew member on board the ” Red Dwarf “.
Lister is as a third-class technician (the lowest ranking crew member). To give you a sense of perspective on where he ranks- the service droids, which are basically a hand on wheels- have a better Union then the Third Class Technicians and they don’t have to service and maintain the food dispensers.
I’d unclog chicken soup dispensers for a living like Lister if it could get me on a Space Ship.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far. Webb’s First Deep Field is galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is teeming with thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.
Webb’s image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length, a tiny sliver of the vast universe. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying more distant galaxies, including some seen when the universe was less than a billion years old. This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks. And this is only the beginning. Researchers will continue to use Webb to take longer exposures, revealing more of our vast universe.
This image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago, with many more galaxies in front of and behind the cluster. Much more about this cluster will be revealed as researchers begin digging into Webb’s data. This field was also imaged by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which observes mid-infrared light.
In all seriousness, I hope I’m wrong. I hope that Ray Bradbury was right and one day people- anyone, will be able to just sign up and fly to a new world and start a new life.
I hope.
