Returning to the Moon! Will The Artemis Mission Provoke Wonder Or Be Met With A Collective “Meh?”

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Moon shot by yours truly.

Do you think we should return to the moon? It's a simple question that evokes many complexities. As someone who, since childhood, has loved space missions, science fiction movies, and still hopes to have a priestly assignment on the Moon, I say let's go... and could you sneak me on the mission somehow! At the same time, I realize that I am no pragmatist. Any space mission, no matter how large or small, can face immediate opposition amid the struggles our world faces. Global hunger, poverty, and the ongoing impact of a global pandemic would understandably lead many to argue, "Forget the Moon, we have too many things to address in this world before we explore other worlds." This is a valid argument and I wouldn't blame anyone for feeling this way.

Still, both personally and in my priestly ministry, I have come to appreciate the power of symbol. Sometimes, when our chins are down we need something to catch our eye to pick them up. Where the eyes go the chin will follow. Could a return to the Moon to put, quote NASA, the first woman and the next man on the Moon lift our eyes, chins, and hearts as a people? Could this be a moment of cultural wonder that, similar to the Mercury and Apollo missions, evokes a universal sense of awe and wonder?

I am excited to have my "Apollo Moment" of watching the first woman and next man walk on the Moon. At the same time, I also fear it could be met with a collective "meh" by our world that now finds cyberspace to be the new frontier instead of outer space. One only needs to watch the movie Apollo 13 to see a theatrical depiction of the struggles lunar missions faced just two missions removed from the historic Moon landing of Apollo 11. The highpoint of this struggle came when the "live from the LEM" show that was supposed to be aired on television got scrubbed, described as making a mission to the Moon look as exciting as a trip to Pittsburg (no offense to our Pittsburg readers). Looking at the original footage, it does become clear why the broadcast wasn't nominated for any Emmy awards.

In the weeks to come, I'm going to reflect on the Artemus mission in more detail. For now, I will leave you with a couple NASA videos to explain the Artemus Mission and ask you to reflection on a simple, yet complicated question.

Should we return to the Moon? 

Leave your comments below and, together, let us get excited for the upcoming Moon missions! In time, may that excitement prepare us for the long term missions of sending humanity to Mars!

The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse from this morning. Captured this with my Fujifilm x-t4, 1/250th of a shutter, ISO160, at 400mm.

 

Specola Guestbook | May 10-13, 1922: IAU 1st General Assembly part 12

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This entry is part 70 of 70 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. For the past few weeks, we have been highlighting visitors who came on the occasion of the first General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. We have finally reached the last installment related to this event. Today’s visitors came between May 10 and 13, 1922. They are: Sotero Prieto, Joseph Baldwin, Paul Stroobant, Albertus Nijland, Hendrik Jan Heuvelink, and Count de la Baume Pluvinel. That red line underneath de la Baume Pluvinel indicates the end of visits related to the IAU meeting. Sotero Prieto Next to his name, Sotero Prieto Rodriguez (1884-1935) wrote, “(Profesor de Matemáticas – Universidad de Mexico) Tacubaya, Mexique” (Professor of Mathematics, University of Mexico, Tacubaya Mexico) In 1912, as a professor in the National School of Higher Studies (later the National University of … Continue reading →

Stars in “The Lady of Shalott”

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“The Lady of Shalott” is a poem about isolation and mental illness caused by addiction to “screens”. The author of the poem is Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who was born in 1809 and died in 1892.* The central character of the poem is a woman who has completely isolated herself. She never looks beyond the walls of her castle, which is itself isolated, located out in a river on an island called Shalott. Rather, she only views the outside world through her phone’s screen, via her web connection. Indeed, she has become so obsessed with viewing the world only through a screen that she has come to believe she will bring down a curse upon herself if she ever looks outside. But then, one early winter’s day, as she watches through some web cam the river road that passes near her castle, she sees the knight Lancelot passing right by her place, on his way to Camelot. She is so smitten … Continue reading →

Curiosity Launch

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NASA Tweetup On the evening pre-launch NASA tour I was privileged to stand within 150 yards of the Atlas V. The Mars Science Laboratory aka Curiosity perched on top ready to go. Silhouetted against the sun, this 191-foot assembly of scientific ambition stood tall. It was a little less than half the height of the Apollo Saturn V. At 363 feet the Saturn V rocket is the largest ever built and is more comparable height-wise to the familiar stainless street sculpture the Spire of Dublin which is 398 feet.  I was with 149 other people who were attending a Tweetup and various NASA people who were so kind and generous with their time. Our job was to tweet every nuance of the launch to the public. It was a truly enjoyable role. After our unlimited photographic bonanza, we left the launch pad to head back toward the Vehicle Assembly Building. On our journey groups of red-haired hogs appeared nearby, munching … Continue reading →

ⓜ Faith and the Cosmos II

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This entry is part 1 of 47 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… part II of an article that dates from 2011 but I have no idea where it ever got published… The Physical and the Spiritual: Even after the adoption of a cosmology based on a spherical earth, a common feature of most cosmologies was the belief that the physical universe mirrored the spiritual realm.  This often involved positing a “chain of creation” in which different levels or aspects of the physical universe were assigned to different elements, different gods, or different ranks of angels. Those different ranks were given names (thrones, dominions) and are what St. Paul was referring to in his letters, cited above. By the Middle Ages, it was assumed that the home of the saints and the biblical firmament were the outer spheres of the universe; below them were the spheres of each planet, moved by angels, and their perfect eternal circular motions stood in contrast to the irregular and finite movements of objects on … Continue reading →

Calendars and Giving Tuesday: Diary of 25 November, 2020

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This entry is part 62 of 62 in the series Diary

Happy (American) Thanksgiving, everyone!  Along with a great day of feasting, and recalling the things we should be thankful for, it’s also the traditional beginning of the Christmas season. So of course I would be remiss not to remind you that it’s a great time to order Calendars (CLICK HERE!) which we can send to your friends and family (I always wondered about that phrase, “friends and family”; but maybe I am lucky that my family also count as my friends). They get a great calendar, with the proceeds going to support our wrk here at the Vatican Observatory.   Being thankful, and remembering friends and family, should also remind us of those who can’t be with family. For those who have been sent to prison, a calendar with the beauties to be seen overhead means a lot, when their night time views are limited to what they can see out a window. The quote in the photo caption came … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 24 2020

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This entry is part 174 of 174 in the series In the Sky This Week

Jupiter and Saturn appear in the southwestern sky at dusk, getting closer together with each passing evening. Mercury and Venus appear in the east-southeastern predawn sky all week – Mercury may be difficult to spot this week being so near the horizon. Mars appears high in the southeastern sky after sunset – the waxing gibbous Moon appears near Mars on Nov. 25th The constellations Orion and Taurus appear in the eastern sky a few hours after sunset, and move across the southern sky to appear in the western sky before sunrise. The Moon is a waxing gibbous – visible to the southeast in early evening, and up for most of the night. The full Moon occurs on Nov. 30th – it rises at sunset, is visible high in the sky around midnight, and is visible all night. If you click on the Moon image above, or click this link, you will go to NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration, 2020 page … Continue reading →

So… Who Is My Neighbor? A Pastor’s Take On Pope Francis’ New Encyclical (Final Reflection)

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Once again, my apologies for my absence. Any of you who have gone through a job addition know that one of the first challenges is establishing a new workflow. So, is my new workflow… flowing? Let’s just say we’re in the river and we found the current. Now we just need to figure out how to keep with the current! In some ways, I think it’s a Godsend my concluding reflection for Fratelli Tutti was delayed. The reason for this thought is that we are a week away from starting a new Church year. When we think of a new year, we often think of a change of heart, a new way of seeing the world, and finding hope to be better people. From this standpoint, can we see Fratelli Tutti as part of this time of new beginnings? Let’s find out! In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis sets the parable of the Good Samaritan as the central Biblical image of … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook | May 10, 1922: IAU 1st General Assembly part 11

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This entry is part 69 of 70 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. For the past few weeks, we have been highlighting visitors who came on the occasion of the first General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.    Today’s visitors all came on May 10, 1922. They are George Dodwell, Jean Bosler, Jules Jaumotte, Henri Deslandres, and Joaquín Gallo. George F. Dodwell Next to his name, George Frederick Dodwell FRAS (1879-1963) wrote, “Adelaide S. Australia.” Dodwell, an Australian state astronomer from the Adelaide Astronomical Observatory, was accompanied by his wife, Annie Dodwell (also an astronomer), who also signed the guestbook. Dodwell is credited with using radio time signals to establish the 141st and 129th meridian lines that mark the borders between various states in Australia. He also photographed the 1922 eclipse that helped confirm Einstein’s general theory of relativity. … Continue reading →

“Cosmos: Possible Worlds”, 4-6: Screaming from the Bleachers

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Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds is on TV this fall.  It is great to see a popular show about science and scientists—a popular show that is educational.  I am a big Cosmos fan.  But of course, the show could always be better!  Maybe a lot better. Episodes 4 (“The Cosmic Connectome”) and 5 (“Vavilov”) were about the brain, and about genetics and agricultural science, respectively.  On these topics I have little expertise.  Nevertheless, I found troublingly narrow the discussion in Episode 5 of Soviet scientists who during the siege of Leningrad in the Second World War preserved the seed bank at Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov’s plant industry institute.  The show praised how these scientists preserved “several tons of edible material” even as 800,000 people starved to death in Leningrad—including the scientists themselves.  Tyson ends the episode with the following: So why didn’t the botanists at the Institute eat a single grain of rice?  Why didn’t they distribute the seeds and … Continue reading →

Science Week remote workshops

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This week was Science Week 2020 here in Ireland. My workshops have been a feature of the event for many years. Driving all over the country, presenting drawing workshops would be the usual format for me. However, this year the new normal was remote drawing workshops. |My Science Week remote workshops were born. A lot of hours goes into creating videos with drawing involved. Getting myself organised with a desk that had an overhead camera. Sorting out the filming, editing and sound by myself was a bit of a task. A learning curve for me that was well worth the journey and the effort. My videos were in use for Science Foundation Ireland’s Science Week in various schools around Ireland. They were also in use for Mayo Science Festival. I have to say that I missed the interaction with the children. However, I was very impressed with the drawings produced and was delighted that some teachers sent a selection to … Continue reading →