20 17 Tibetan aerial photography

Is to explore the endless unknown.

Emile Zola

One,

Recently, it was discovered that there was a vision in the sky.

When watching the stars at night, a row of stars will cross the sky from time to time.

Someone has already shared it on social networks.

More astronomy enthusiasts capture the dynamics of these stars through night time-lapse photography, which is more spectacular than meteor shower, just like sweeping the sky with a laser cannon.

These stars are unusual at first glance, but what are they? Is it an alien?

In fact, this is a series of communication satellites orbiting the earth at high speed, which is part of the "Starklink" project of space X Company.

The planner and implementer of this huge plan is the famous Silicon Valley Iron Man-elon musk.

This "Star Chain Project" will launch at least12,000 satellites into space, and it is likely to expand to 42,000 satellites. It is said that it is a wifi signal used to cover the whole earth, and there is no dead angle.

In order to realize this plan, Space Exploration Technology Company will launch 60 satellites every two weeks in the future. This is a myth in the past space engineering, because the cost is too high, and launching rockets so frequently may be too much for a country to use all its financial resources.

However, because the space exploration technology company has mastered the technology of rocket launch and recovery, the launch cost has been greatly reduced, which makes all this feasible and operable.

Second,

Looking up at the sky may be something that countless people who love fantasy and are curious about the world love to do.

What secrets are hidden in deep space?

Primitive humans, from the first time they looked up at the starry sky, had a strong curiosity about nature, gradually bred wisdom and led the development of human society.

Former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao once quoted Hegel's famous saying in his speech at Tongji University:

The future of mankind must be realized by exploring space.

1969, man successfully landed on the moon for the first time, and the world was excited and shocked.

Subsequently, human beings were extremely optimistic about their own space technology, thinking that they could land on Mars in less than ten years, and by the year 2000, the era of space roaming was coming.

At that time, young people who were full of confidence in the future of mankind, especially those in western developed countries, listened to Zarathustra's grand background music with eager anticipation, and couldn't wait to imagine themselves traveling in interstellar space in a spacesuit, just like the scene in the movie "200 1 A Space Odyssey", exploring the mysteries of the deep universe step by step.

It was the first golden age in the history of human space exploration.

Unfortunately, with the end of the cold war arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, the huge expenditure on space exploration has become a burden for politicians to compete for power, and space exploration activities have been gradually cut and cancelled.

The human landing on the moon is the peak!

Who would have thought that this golden age would end with the end of the Apollo program?

Since Apollo 1972 completed the last mission to the moon, by 2020, almost 50 years have passed, and no human has successfully set foot on any planet other than the earth.

Those ambitious young people are old, and human beings are full of praise for the progress of "colonization" in space. Originally thought to be just around the corner, the sea of stars now looks extremely far away.

Sigh this life or no more!

All this can't help but remind people of the life of Armstrong, the hero of the moon landing.

As the first man to set foot on the moon, his footprints will remain on the moon forever, as well as his famous saying that makes people cry:

Armstrong's return to earth was of course warmly welcomed by all walks of life. He stepped onto the peak of his life, but he was also such a person and began to decline from then on.

Armstrong began to drink heavily after retiring, and his mood was low. Later, he divorced his wife, became withdrawn and stayed at home all day. Someone advised him to go out for a walk and relax, and he actually said:

"I have even been to the moon. Where else on earth can attract me? "

It's a shame that the hero of a generation has fallen here.

Third,

Although man has never landed on the moon for decades, this does not mean that space exploration has stopped. During this time, the protagonist of space exploration is the space probe.

1995, the Galileo probe entered Jupiter's orbit, clearly showing the real meaning of Jupiter and its many satellites, especially Europa, the charming Europa.

On Europa, we were surprised to see the fountain soaring into the sky at a height of 200 kilometers, and the surface of the planet was covered with tens of kilometers of ice and the Aral Sea under the ice 100 kilometers deep, all of which made Europa the most likely planet in the solar system to have life except the earth.

On Christmas Eve in 2004, Cassini unloaded Huygens and landed on Titan, which brought the most surprising Christmas gift to astronomy lovers all over the world.

In the images sent back by Huygens, people were surprised for the first time to see liquid planets and lakes outside the earth, and it would rain and snow.

Titan is about 65.438+0.5 billion kilometers away from the Earth, and its terrain and "climate environment" are almost replicas of the Earth, giving people a sense of trance that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

However, the liquid on Titan is not water but liquid methane.

In 20 12, Curiosity landed on Mars and began a long-term mission to explore Mars.

Curiosity has taken many high-definition photos of Mars, and from time to time, some photos suspected of being "creatures" or "Martians" have caused heated discussion.

This advanced and interesting curiosity has almost become an online celebrity in the world of space probes.

In 20 17, after 20 years' contribution to human astronomy, the famous Cassini rushed to Saturn, and still tried its best to send Saturn's atmospheric data back to Earth before it turned to ashes.

Cassini has made many achievements and is praised as "glorious Cassini" by astronomy enthusiasts.

It once turned around and took a "selfie" of the earth at a distance of 65.438+0.44 billion kilometers. In the picture, our earth is just a dot.

It once photographed the magnificent Saturn's rings at close range, and confirmed for the first time that the astronomer Cassini himself discovered the "Cassini annular gap" of Saturn's rings with a telescope in 1675, and found a perfect hexagonal cyclone at Saturn's North Pole.

Cassini also explored Saturn's colorful satellite world, especially Huygens, which explored Titan, as mentioned above.

1977 Voyager 1, carrying a golden plate full of information about the earth and human beings, is leaving our solar system at a speed of 16.98 kilometers per second.

After a long journey of more than 40 years, it is now about 2 1 100 million kilometers away from us, and it is the farthest artificial celestial body from the earth so far.

In about 2025, Voyager 1 will completely lose contact with the earth and really start its "wandering journey in the universe".

Fourth,

Although the difficult step of human "colonizing" space has stopped in the past 50 years, the soft project of "looking up to space" has never stopped.

As Hegel said, because someone will always look up at the starry sky, we humans must be a species with a future.

In fact, I also like watching the night sky.

Especially after learning that Musk has this "Star Chain Plan", like many curious friends, I can't wait to go to the rooftop to have a look.

Unfortunately, the star chain is only an artificial satellite, and its body does not shine. They look like stars, but because they reflect sunlight.

This light is actually very weak. The air pollution is serious, and the city lights will affect the observation and the whereabouts are uncertain. Maybe when you look at the sky, they don't pass through your area at all. ...

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to observe these star chains with the naked eye. Otherwise, such a spectacular "astronomical scene" will probably burst into a circle of friends early in the morning.

What a pity ...

But this night, looking at the deep and quiet night sky, my mood can't help but fluctuate.

In fact, the Star Chain Project is not an epoch-making feat. There are also voices of dissatisfaction with this plan on the Internet, and the plan itself may not necessarily achieve any good results.

However, because of the appearance of people like Musk, we can attract more people to look back at space, rekindle their interest and hope in the sky, and push mankind to continue exploring space.

Following the first step of Armstrong 1969,

I hope to live to see what human beings have done.

Step two,

Third step ...

1977, mankind launched the famous navigator 1.

In 2025, it will completely lose contact with human beings.

If we are lucky, after 300,000 years of wandering flight, this lonely traveler will reach Sirius, the brightest star in our all-day night sky.

Did anyone imagine Voyager 1 entering Sirius orbit after 300,000 years?

If there were Sirius, what would they think of what the earthlings in our solar system did 8.6 light years ago after reading the data on the golden disk on the detector?

Isn't it amazing?

Is it a smile?

Still no feeling?

No one will know.

But I believe,

All this is of great significance to a nation, a species and even all living things on the whole planet.

For those creatures in these biological groups who know the meaning of "looking up at the sky",

This is not only an epic,

This is also the future. ...