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week 9: Space + Art

This week we learned about a subject that humans have always been fascinated by: space. Ancient astronomers trying to make sense of everything a named every planet, each planet also had its own meaning. Carl Sagan in his video "The Pale Blue Dot" was instrumental in bringing information of the cosmos to the public eye. In the 17th century astronomers finally created a telescope which began a whole new era for studies. Now when we talk about astronomy it is both on the macro and micro scale, from here we see nanotechnology playing a role in space exploration.

In the lecture Professor Vesna discusses the importance of animals in cosmic science. After all they were the first ones to go to space. Russia sent a stray 13 pound mutt up into space and from that they monitored her to see how the body may react differently in space. Although the dog only survived for 6 days and ended up dying after a system failure. It is interesting to me how willing they were to send an animal into space with little knowledge of whether or not she would survive. I would be curious if that would still be okay today or considered unethical.



The Ansari X prize was created in May 1996. It was a space competition in which the X Prize foundation offered $10,000,000 for the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft to be launched into space twice in two weeks. 8 years later spaceship one won the prize although much more was spent in the creation than the reward. Companies such as virgin soon wanted to commercialize the idea and create space flights for common people. The idea of this may come sooner than we imagined. Only time will tell...

Work Cited:

Sharp, Tim. “SpaceShipOne: The First Private Spacecraft | The Most Amazing Flying Machines Ever.” Space.com, Space, 5 Mar. 2019, www.space.com/16769-spaceshipone-first-private-spacecraft.html.

 "Spitzer Space Telescope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 May 2016.

“SpaceShipOne.” National Air and Space Museum, 9 June 2018, airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/spaceshipone.

“Science/Nature | First Dog in Space Died within Hours.” BBC News, BBC, 28 Oct. 2002, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2367681.stm.

 Vesna, Victoria. "Space Pt 1." Space Pt 1. Online, Los Angeles. 29 May 2016. Lecture.



Comments

  1. Bella BaiaMay 29, 2019 at 5:50 PM

    Bella,
    I liked all of the examples you incorporated into your blog. My favorite part, however, was how you discussed the importance of animals. That was very interesting to me as the aspect of 'space discoveries' did not cross my mind when writing my blog. There are so many different aspects and features that are critical in the findings revolving around the Cosmos. I enjoyed reading your blog. Good job!

    ReplyDelete

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