TV Drama: The Girl Who Saved the Astronaut
Time: Several hundred years hence.
Place: Earth and nearby space.
Characters: Our descendants.
Plot: A young girl interested in all things astronomical discovers old documents that show a potential collision with the 694-lb infrared telescope called Herschel, originally launched by ESA/NASA in May, 2009 and deactivated in June, 2013. In spite of doubtful adults and restrictions imposed on her, she sets out to convince authorities and to warn astronauts aboard various space stations.
You can imagine our distant descendants cursing us and our generation for jeopardizing their lives with an incoming telescope. Through the young girl’s efforts, they discover that we had a choice when the mission ended: We could have sent the Herschel Space Observatory crashing into the moon or sent it into a heliocentric orbit to keep it from crashing into Earth—for hundreds of years. We chose the latter because it was a cheaper option. At the time of our story, Herschel is back, possibly about to encounter people in space or people on the ground. D—n those ancestors. In the short run, Earthlings saved some money. In the long run, they jeopardized the future.
Maybe they figured, “We’ll be long gone. Anyway, what’s the chance of Herschel’s hitting something or someone when it swings back around hundreds of years from now? Even our great grandchildren won’t be affected. So, what’s the big deal. We can save some money.”
Let’s think positively here: The Herschel scientists didn’t have that attitude in 2013. Maybe they reasoned that the chance of a collision is so small, it won’t happen. But then think of our own ancestors and the conditions they left us: Felled forests, desertification, soils depleted of nutrients, or dammed rivers, for example. Or, think of us: Dead whales and turtles with plastic objects in their stomachs.
It’s difficult for any of us to think of long-term consequences. We have enough on our plate, such as not spending money we don’t have just as the Herschel Space Observatory managers saved some money. We do pretty much live in the present. Maybe we think in terms of days, weeks, or months. Certainly, we don’t have distant centuries on our minds. So, for us all consequences are local and relatively immediate.
Chances are slim that Herschel will hit something or someone the next time it’s in our neighborhood. But a slim chance is still a chance. We’ll never know. And if on that slim chance someone is hit, people will probably ask, “Where did that come from?” However, if someone does discover those by then old documents, they might say, “Those damn ancestors!”
Time: Several hundred years hence.
Place: Earth and nearby space.
Characters: Our descendants.
Plot: A young girl interested in all things astronomical discovers old documents that show a potential collision with the 694-lb infrared telescope called Herschel, originally launched by ESA/NASA in May, 2009 and deactivated in June, 2013. In spite of doubtful adults and restrictions imposed on her, she sets out to convince authorities and to warn astronauts aboard various space stations.
You can imagine our distant descendants cursing us and our generation for jeopardizing their lives with an incoming telescope. Through the young girl’s efforts, they discover that we had a choice when the mission ended: We could have sent the Herschel Space Observatory crashing into the moon or sent it into a heliocentric orbit to keep it from crashing into Earth—for hundreds of years. We chose the latter because it was a cheaper option. At the time of our story, Herschel is back, possibly about to encounter people in space or people on the ground. D—n those ancestors. In the short run, Earthlings saved some money. In the long run, they jeopardized the future.
Maybe they figured, “We’ll be long gone. Anyway, what’s the chance of Herschel’s hitting something or someone when it swings back around hundreds of years from now? Even our great grandchildren won’t be affected. So, what’s the big deal. We can save some money.”
Let’s think positively here: The Herschel scientists didn’t have that attitude in 2013. Maybe they reasoned that the chance of a collision is so small, it won’t happen. But then think of our own ancestors and the conditions they left us: Felled forests, desertification, soils depleted of nutrients, or dammed rivers, for example. Or, think of us: Dead whales and turtles with plastic objects in their stomachs.
It’s difficult for any of us to think of long-term consequences. We have enough on our plate, such as not spending money we don’t have just as the Herschel Space Observatory managers saved some money. We do pretty much live in the present. Maybe we think in terms of days, weeks, or months. Certainly, we don’t have distant centuries on our minds. So, for us all consequences are local and relatively immediate.
Chances are slim that Herschel will hit something or someone the next time it’s in our neighborhood. But a slim chance is still a chance. We’ll never know. And if on that slim chance someone is hit, people will probably ask, “Where did that come from?” However, if someone does discover those by then old documents, they might say, “Those damn ancestors!”
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