I’m sure you’ve read numerous articles on the year recap or have at least tried your hardest to avoid them. I can see why reliving the memories isn’t needed. The calendar says it’s a new year, but the fresh start is lacking. The freedom is lacking. We’re all still stuck on this messy planet and have to continue to make the best of it. And people have- they’re trying.
But, who knew that 2020 would be the year that we all required a 5 point harness for our yearly trip around the sun equivalent to the 3gs that astronauts experience during launch? I couldn’t have predicted it, but when you turn 2020 vertically, it does say “NO, NO”. It was a bit of a warning to those who took the time to notice.
And who could have predicted that NASA would land on an asteroid to collect samples? Think about that. Gently lowering a spacecraft also known as OSIRIS-REx at 0.2mph onto an asteroid with tenuous gravity and enormous boulders all the while hurtling through space. That’s an engineering win. And who else could have predicted that water would be found on the moon or that there’s gas on Venus that could be tied to microbial life? Mind blown.
There’s just as much discovery happening on this planet as there is in space.
This initially unknown virus has now been identified. Many people have tried to block it with distance, masks, and clean air. Similar to our atmosphere protecting our delicate earth under the clouds. Antivirals are working to stop entry or slow replication. Vaccines are working to prime immune systems.
Humans are so grateful to the dedication and creativity of the many scientists who’ve begun to solve the puzzle of COVID-19, but there’s still much more to discover and plan. Honestly, there is more we don’t know than we do.
I’m hopeful the disaster we’ve experienced so far doesn’t take a turn for the worse and result in the hell that is life on a lava planet. K2-141b is so close to its sun that it does not spin on its own axis. One side is 5,000 degrees F, whereas the other is -300 degrees F. The unstable weather patterns begin with oceans of lava on the hot side that are blown to the cold side by supersonic winds and ends with vaporized raining rock. Astronomers think K2-141b is an example of planet development. Lava planets are babies. Logic tell us that Earth’s current version of pandemic hell should be evolving for the better but we’re not there yet.
Cheers, 2021! Here’s hoping for more discoveries- both to rid our planet of COVID-19 and to unlock the mystery that is space.
Lyndsey Battaglia 