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Infinite, incomprehensible,  inexplicable the cosmos that is

how foolish for the man in this ordinary planet to think he knows  a lot.

-          Rough translation of a Malayalam poem.

Surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. From it we have learnt most of what we know. Recently we have waded a little out to the sea, enough to dampen our toes or at most wet our ankles. The water seems inviting. The ocean calls. Some part of our being knows this is from where we came. We long to return.

-            From Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos”.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

-          From Douglas Adam’s” Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy, Part –II-Restaurant at the end of Universe.”

As promised, Moon impact probe (MIP) successfully impacted the moon on children’s day- giving some very close up photographs of the lunar surface. Upon landing the probe was destroyed but then our tricolor was painted on MIP making our presence in Moon. This is just a prelude to a planned surface rover launch by 2012. Fresh from this success, ISRO has ambitious plans to send man to space in the next 5 years and then missions to the Sun (Aditya) and  to the red planet (Mars). Hats off to ISRO scientists.

Human beings have always been explorers. Our ancestors set out on a voyage out of Africa on foot and spread all across the globe excepting Antarctic by  the end of last ice age some 12000 years ago.  Our body is composed of matter which is of cosmic in origin- as we know most of the matter in the universe was formed within the first few seconds of  big bang. Those atoms passing through so many inanimate and animate objects has reached us and will eventually return to the cosmos. We are made of stardust. It is natural  for  one to explore his origins- and by spacefaring , we are just exploring our roots.

Last week also marked the demise of Phoenix- the Mars lander which  confirmed the presence of water in the form of ice on Mars.  But life is still elusive on the red planet. Phoenix could not find any traces of life – present or fossilized -  on mars. Probably this is a reminder to all those alien crazy public, that life in the universe is very difficult to detect. All those alien invasions and abductions are pure fantasy. Phoenix mission which was supposed to last for three months outlived it by another three months-  with the onset of Martian winter ( the probe was landed in the arctic region of the planet) solar energy starved battery system went dead marking the end of the mission. But scientist are still hopeful and mars reconnaissance mission orbiting mars is still trying to contact Phoenix. And some scientist believe, with the onset of mars spring some 6 months later, probably Phoenix will spring back to life. Will this Phoenix emulate the mythical one by rising from its ashes? Lets be optimistic.

Universe if full of surprises. Last week astronomers photographed (?) for the first time an exo planet. If subsequent analysis proves this dot around a star is that of a planet, then we will be seeing for the first time the photograph of an exoplanets. So far we have detected their presence through indirect means ( wobble and change in intensity of light of parent star). Space exploration is an area of limitless possibilities. India has ventured into it at the right time. So let us embark on a journey of exploration to  those areas where no man has gone before. Happy voyage.

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