I saw a great tweet with the hashtag #10YrsOnMars and a very cool picture from a collection of images from the surface of Mars! They were taken by the intrepid Mars rovers. HERE
Here’s one.
Poor little Spirit. RIP.
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I saw that pic on Twitter. What a great view! I look at stuff like that and just shudder at the power of God.
Opportunity is still active?! It is just a few weeks shy of having been on the Martian surface for 10 years. Mot bad for a planned 90 day lifespan! I hope those who designed and built it received some hefty bonuses.
Is it a sin to feel sad for inanimate objects? Or does it just make me a sentimental fool? Don’t answer that.
@Priam1184, I feel the same. He is truly awesome. I am constantly amazed at His artistic genius. Don’t know how else to describe it with my little limited human brain.
Apparently the scientists were surprised to discover that Mars has frequent dirt devils that pass over its surface. They are strong enough to kick up some wind, but not strong enough to cause damage. Every time one passes near the Rover, it cleans off the solar panels, and the Rover can recharge. So instead of a ninety day supply of energy, as long as everything else is functional, there will be perpetual power provided by the newly cleaned-off solar panels. Cool, eh?
@Priam1184 do a google on “hand of God” and “eye of God” for some cool telescope pic’s of deep, deep space. While I don’t believe they are the actual hand and eye of God, I have never understood how some people can look at the universe and not see the mind of God at work, and quite possibly at play.
Fr Z, thank you for posting this, and for the link to those amazing photos.
There are also great Wikipedia articles on both rovers. I had not known that “both rovers have pieces of the fallen World Trade Center’s metal on them that were turned into shields to protect cables on the drilling mechanisms.” That’s a rather poignant detail.
Psalm 8 seems utterly right here:
“When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
The moon and the stars which you arranged –
What is man that you should keep him in mind,
Mortal man, that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god
With glory and honour you crowned him
Gave him power over the works of your hand
Put all things under his feet…”
I feel quite confident in predicting that little Spirit will indeed, one day, get to come home — to a very comfy display case at the Smithsonian, enjoying the admiration of legions of schoolchildren.
Gorgeous.
Astronomers who are atheists should quit the profession.
They just don’t get it…
RomeontheRange: exactly. Except for that not just schoolchildren will file past in admiration.
And how appropriate would it be if Opportunity would be kept in continuous working order on the martian surface. Given the time it will take before we can do some maintainance there, that’s probably a long shot indeed, but who knows? The rover had to be engineered in such a way to survive a landing, so even with all protective measures employed there, it still has to be quite sturdy.
As man reaches out into God’s creation it makes us both understand how small we are in creation but also how incredibly special we are at the same time. I am really looking forward to seeing the movie “The Principle” on scientific research going on now that indicates earth is more geocentric than modern science has be thinking for quite sometime and how unigue this planet earth is in big picture.
RJHighland, interesting that you should mention “the Principle”. I am also interested in seeing that after watching Michael Voris’ “Miked Up” episode on this. Another instance where the hand of God can be seen is in the story of the Star of Bethlehem. My family just watched a documentary of that name where, if the presenter’s research is correct, God engineered the planets to send us a message both at the conception and birth of Jesus and at His Crucifixion.