- Human ingenuity, adventurous streak, an unbelievable quest for exploration, an unimaginable tendency to test human endurance, and an unparalleled urge to go beyond the normal consummately define us. Since times immemorial, humankind has endured to expand hitherto unexplored horizons and break boundaries by undertaking some of the most audacious endeavours. Some of those mad bravados initiated by enterprising people have carried forward humanity to pathbreaking inventions, innovations, developments, and unearthing jaw-dropping prospects that completely altered our existence. Humankind has been witnessing these perpetually and is even more inclined to further explore the unexplored. No stopping us, you see!
PC: LinkedIn
- One of the most challenging endeavours to have confounded humanity must be space exploration. The very thought of humans landing on the moon must evoke a hair-raising experience for the sheer audacity of travelling in the extremely challenging infinitesimal space. That humans are relentless in their pursuit to traverse uncharted territory is not only momentous but also laudatory for our daring efforts. Mind you, most humans can’t hit 20 kmph under their own steam. It’s a downside of having two legs and no wings. Usain Bolt, the fastest of all, could momentarily approach 45 kmph. But give us our levers and we leave the world in our wake. That’s our legacy and unencumbered exploration skills driving us to attain new glories along the way.
PC: Gadgets 360
- A train drew us level with cheetahs in the 1850s. Within a century of that, we broke the sound barrier. Twenty years on, three men touched 40,000 kmph on their way back from the moon, and on Christmas Eve 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe clocked almost 700,000 kmph. That’s over six times faster than the Earth’s speed around the sun. It’s so fast you can reach the moon in about 30 minutes. Let that sink in before you ask why Parker’s feat is hope, not a certainty. As it plunged into the sun’s infernally hot outer atmosphere recently, the probe lost contact with Earth – perfectly normal, as has happened before. Parker’s mission from its launch in Aug 2018 has been to study the sun, its corona, and the solar wind causing havoc to power and telecom systems.
PC: The Wire Science
- As reported, it darts in and out at astronomical speeds to survive the corona’s million-degree temperatures and devastating radiation. Its 4.5-inch heat shield can withstand temperatures up to 1,400 degrees Celsius only, so the faster it moves – like a finger flicked through a flame – the safer it is. In the Greek myth, Icarus flew too close to the sun and perished. It was a warning to humans not to overreach themselves. Parker is Icarus with carbon-composite wings and an escape plan. It’s a fruit of human ingenuity, not Artificial Intelligence, and going into the New Year, a reminder that our limits are meant to be broken. Human beings are programmed to expand limits so that the limits expand automatically. Long live our enterprising exploration endeavours!
