Hawking believes humans could have a permanent base on the moon within 20 years, and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years.
Count me in. And my wife. And my little dog, too!
NASA seems to be on board with Hawking. Its Web site touts advanced technology that will help in the discovery of terrestrial planets the size of Mars and Earth. NASA believes these places are somewhere out there. It's just a matter of finding them.
NASA calls these new frontiers "extrasolar" planets. And it goes on to say, "they appear to be common in our galactic neighborhood." Never mind that they've yet to be discovered. Got to hand it to NASA, though. Its positive thinking evidently is a lot more powerful than its Hubble Space Telescope.
But not to worry. Enter SIM PlanetQuest, scheduled for launch within the next 10 years.
SIM (I don't know what that stands for) PlanetQuest "will measure the distances and positions of stars with unprecedented accuracy," says NASA. "SIM's precision will allow us to detect evidence of planets just slightly larger than Earth."
NASA is also working on another high-tech gadget called the Terrestrial Planet Finder. The TPF will go where no man (or woman, or dog) has gone before.
The Terrestrial Planet Finder, with imaging power 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope, will actually record photographs of nearby planetary systems.
"Nearby" being relative, or course. Which means, say, 100 light years away. Or, traveling at 187,000 miles per second, my wife, my dog and I would get there in 100 years. But we actually wouldn't be any older.
Traveling at the speed of light means (because of time warps, black holes and worm holes) we would actually get there before we left; more or less. Now traveling back in this direction would be another story altogether. Our ages would pick up where they left off, and then some.
It's all about Einstein's theory of relativity. What does that mean? In his own words Einstein said, "If you hold your hand on a hot stove for a minute, it seems like an hour. But, if you hold hands with a beautiful young woman for an hour, it seems like a minute."
That's relativity, according to Einstein. And I agree.
Which doesn't mean I'm an expert on deep subjects like space, sex, the Big Bang, time, eternity, Big Foot, natural selection, evolution, creationism, communism or Confucianism.
Just ask my high school physics teacher. Or my geometry teacher. Or any other teacher for that matter. But I did know a lot about baseball.
My knowledge of time, space and other mysteries of the universe are a result of seeing every episode of "Star Trek" (thanks to my wife), "Deep Space 9," "Buck Rogers," the "Star Trek Trilogy," "Somewhere in Time," "The Dead Zone," "Carrie," "The Stand," "Clockwork Orange," "Being There," "Planet of the Apes" and "E. T."
Space and time have always intrigued me. And I believe life could be sustained -- somewhere -- out there.
Out there, where -- ideally -- there are no wars, Wal-Marts, bird flu, mad cows, IRS, traffic, politics, pollution, poverty, gangs, drugs, spiders, bats, snakes, sickness or … death.
Maybe that's what heaven is like.
If so, count me in. And my wife, and my little dog, too.
Raymond Reid has a home in Pinehurst. He may be reached at RREID7@triad.rr.com.
