First and foremost I must declare that
I am not a scientist nor is it my area of study and, for such reason,
my knowledge of science, mathematics and physics is limited to any
basic research and general inquiries I am able to make to people
whom, I believe, have a better grasp of the subjects than I do.
When the Viking prove was sent out to
explore the far reaches of the galaxy our capacity to maintain
contact with it was and currently is greatly limited, even so new
advances in internet are being made that could change that and
possibly even turn every citizen in the world into galactic
explorers.
Harald Haas first introduced us to the
possibility of Li-Fi in 2011 and last year he presented the first
working prototype, using light as a faster way to transfer
information and provide unprecedented internet connectivity, the
possibilities for this are hard to number, but in my opinion one of
them could be that of space exploration.
By creating pods that would navigate
through space using solar sails as a means of propulsion, equipped
with a variety of sensors and a camera, and connected to the world
via a series of satellites shooting beams of light or laser which
would act as Li-Fi port, which would in turn transmit the information
to a human pilot, a casual every day Joe or Jane, receiving updated
information on their individual explorer allowing them to see the
wonders of space from anywhere on Earth, with the included capacity to make
corrections in course and directing them to explore the depths of
space and hopefully make discoveries, unprecedented in the history of
space exploration, hopefully passing on the prove to their children
and many generations after, who will see parts of space no human on
Earth could have expected to see.
As stated above my understanding of
science is limited and, in this particular case, I do not have a firm
grasp as to how light travels across the vacuum of space and how far
it may reach before it would disperse, however for what Ive been able
to understand from forums and inquiries Ive made, even a weak laser
shot out into space could travel several millions of miles.
Also and with the purpose of expanding
the plausible range of said probes, satellites could be sent to
various point of our solar system extending even beyond it to create
a galactic wide web gww, which would would also allow for real-time
monitoring through sensors and cameras of our solar system and any
events occurring in it, such as tracking of any rovers on the surface
of planets, by-passing comets and meteor collisions.
To add to the possibilities which this
could entice, albeit the most implausible one, such type of internet
connection could allow for, phone and camera capacity installed on
the probes, permitting the very improbable possibility to establish
first contact with any sentient civilization that may come across any
said probes.
I will admit this is more in the lines
of wishful thinking, but wishful thinking and daring the impossible
is what has allowed humanity to overcome every challenge set against
us, achieving things that were once deemed impossible such as
controlling lightning and placing it in a glass jar, rising to the
skies like birds, diving into the darkest depths of our oceans and
returning alive; So maybe its just a dream, but its not like we haven't made them real before.
