Let's go to Mars!

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.”

– Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

I am obsessed with all things space- from the mystical nebulae to the ever-glorious solar system and grim black holes, I love it😀 Ever since I was little, my idea of a perfect weekend was going to the planetarium and chilling with a good space show or engulfing myself in a good old space documentary/movie. My friends and I spend hours debating about mind-boggling astronomy stuff and working on cool projects like moon bases and cosmic telescopes. 

I have always wanted to watch a launch. A LIVE LAUNCH, not clips (they remove the spontaneity of the program😟). One day I heard that SpaceX was collaborating with NASA to launch the Crew Dragon Demo-2, which would be the pioneer for future space frontiers: lighter spacesuits, better technology, and even private space travel!!! It would carry astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Beckham to space for a duration of 63 days, 23 hours, and 25 minutes on the ISS. The launch was scheduled for 27 May 2020, but since it was happening at noon, UTC in Florida that meant I would have to stay awake the whole night. After pleading with parents, I set off on my first all-night-out (haha!). Two of my friends were also going to stay up so we were continuously chatting: sharing facts, a lot of 'yay's & gifs😂 , and tons of messages (there were like 2,000 messages in the morning!!). We were super excited!!!

Sadly, our happiness came to a pause when the mission was postponed due to a bad climate. I was really bummed. My first ever live launch shattered my hopes of gleaming and rejoicing when the spacecraft would leave Earth's atmosphere. 😭😭

But, we all had fun so I guess it counterbalances sorrow. The launch was going to take place 3 days later, but I was in no mood to see them prep again. Hence, the next morning I took a look at the clips. 

Fast forward to a few months later, 30 July 2020- NASA announced another historical event, launching the Perseverance Rover to MARS!!! That is so much better than the International Space Station!!!

The good part was this launch would be in the evening (for me) so I didn't have to stay awake. YAY! Then the whole evening (again chatting with my friends) I watched the Rover sitting in the rocket leave the Earth! Part 1 accomplished, after 6/7 months it would land on the red majesty! Many science figures like Bill Nye, Dianna Cowern, Neil DeGrasse Tyson showed their appreciation for this mission. Perseverance would investigate an astrobiological relevant ancient environment on Mars and investigate its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars!!!! Examining for extraterrestrial life???!!! WOAH. Wouldn't that be stupendous? Probably learning about the history of our neighbor, might help us understand more about the formation of the solar system and thus, about our place in the gargantuan cosmos!

Now here I am, 7 months later. 

Firstly, I forgot that today was the day. I had a lot of news article recommendations on Perseverance, but I just brushed it aside thinking :

"Meh. Just some updates I guess."

But then, my friend sent the link to the live stream, and that is when I realized 7 months had passed and it was finally going to commence! Perseverance was going to land on the red surface at 8.55 pm UTC and that would be around 2.30 am in India. Time for another all-nighter! My parents weren't thrilled for me to be awake the whole night, but we compromised. I ought to sleep till 2 am and then I could get up and watch the rover skim the surface of Mars. That was a fair deal; I couldn't stay awake for so long😅. 

I kept an alarm for 2.00 am, and read a book before hitting the sack. 

Instead of rising at 2, I woke up fifteen minutes late- but luckily I did not miss the event! The rover's craft hovered serenely and slowly landed. A ton of staggering pictures of the martian surface was released. It was beatific and rapturous; I finally saw a live launch and experienced the euphoric joy which I always wanted to! Here are a few photos released by the rover: 

Technology today has enabled us to witness events happening in the vast cosmos that is being telecast on the other side of the globe! A YouTube stream, high-quality photographs, internet; surreal and sci-fi-like! 

These baby steps will hopefully enable humanity to reach the outer systems like Proxima Centauri B where there could be possibilities of life. 

Waiting with sheer inquisitiveness and elation to witness the success of the Mars 2020 mission😁. 

P.S. There are a total of five rovers on Mars- Sojourner, Opportunity, Spirit, Curiosity, and now,  Perseverance.

Did you like this post? Were you too watching the launch or the landing? Let me know in the comments!