Exploration: From the Old Year to the New

2016 Exploration

It’s been a hell of a year, this 2016. We’ve gained new knowledge, lost heroes, confronted uncomfortable change, and are now pondering the new year ahead. It’s been a ride.

Yesterday I was in the Weekly Space Hangout with Fraser Cain and his friends, and we talked over the big space stories of the year. The show featured Nancy Atkinson, talking about her new book Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos, which looks like a good read!

During the hangout, we shared the stories we thought were important this past year. One participant talked about the matter/antimatter ‘problem’.  Another focused on SpaceX and its accomplishments and troubles in 2016. I focused on the planetary missions I’ve been following at Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer solar system. For each of us, the theme was exploration. Whether it was delving into the distant reaches of the cosmos to figure out early matter-antimatter annihilations or space mission accomplishments right here in the solar system, the idea was “exploration”.

Exploration in 2017

The new year continues our studies in the cosmos, ranging from the continued exploration of our own planet out to the limits of the observable universe.  Some missions will get started, others — such as the Cassini mission — will come to an end in 2017. Others, such as the New Horizons and various Mars missions, will keep on keepin’ on. Science will make giant leaps forward to improve not just our understanding of the universe, but also our knowledge about our planet, our lives, our bodies, and the life around us. That’s what science does. It explores. It explains. And, if we’re smart, we listen to it. And, we learn. That’s the way forward, not just in 2017, but in any age.

I wish everyone reading this a glorious new year and hope that you will come along with me and all the others who bring science to life as we continue to explore the cosmos, one story at a time.  Keep looking up!

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