Today Nasa is sending a rocket to Jupiter. Juno will do a
quick circuit of Mars, back for a once around Earth to give it an extra boost,
and then away. Amazing! Mind blowing!
It’s an impressive rocket by anyone’s standards. Once it’s
on its way, all its power will come from the Sun and it’ll be travelling at
160,000 mph. Incredible! Nigh-on
unbelievable!
The down side is the cost... $1.1 billion!
Yes
that’s $1.1 billion!
So here are my questions:
1. Do we really need
to know what lurks beneath the clouds that shroud this gassy, mysterious
planet?
2. As a writer does
this sort of exploration inspire your writing of other-planetary worlds or does
it detract from the mystery?
3. And is it just me
or does $1.1 billion dollars sound like a lot of money to spend when there are
so many financial problems in the world, so many people starving, so many communities
struggling to survive, so many charities desperate for donations, so much still
to be done here on Earth?
I felt I had to add a note here. This post has almost caused a domestic. Mr A has asked me to say that he thinks it is well worth every dollar as it’s furthering our knowledge of our world and the Universe. What do you think?
The inspiration for this blog was brought to you via Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday and the letter P.
