Did
you know that there is a satellite that circles our planet and is set to
crash-land on Earth in 8 million years? Its mission may surprise you.
NASA
has made a satellites called LAGEOS or Laser Geodynamics Satellites, which are mainly
scientific satellites that study our planet. The LAGEOS satellite circles our
planet so that it can be communicated from several ground stations around the
world. LAGEOS design is beautiful. The spacecraft is made of aluminum-covered
brass spheres with a diameter of 60 cm, the satellite is enclosed in 426
cube-corner retroreflectors which makes the Satellite look exactly like a giant
golf ball. LAGEOS does not have any board sensors or electronics, and are not
attitude-controlled. Its primary mission is not that of carrying a message to
the future populations of our planet, but rather studying and monitoring its
development.
The
main objective of the satellites is to precisely measure the satellites
position in respect to our planet, determine Earth’s shape and study the
tectonic movements which are associated with continental drift.
The
ground stations that are looking out for LAGEOS are in USA, China, France,
Poland, Italy, Japan, Australia, Mexico and Peru.
But
what makes this satellite so important? Well, the satellite is set to
crash-land on our planet in 8 million years, carrying a particular message to
anyone that will inhabit our planet in the distant future. The message carried
by LAGEOS are three different maps of Earth: One that is 268 million years old,
one showing how Earth appears like today and another map will show how the
planet will look like in the future.
The LAGEOS plaque, designed by Carl Sagan
But
who will live on our planet in 8 million years? Humans? Aliens? Or will life finish
to exist on planet Earth?
Picture
that life “reboots” on our planet as it is assumed to have happened millions of
years ago. Primitive man is inhabiting the planet and a weird sphere
crash-lands on the planet. What would these “future” beings think the device
is? Would they associate the LAGEOS satellite to celestial deities and gods? Maybe
like our ancestors did thousands of years ago.
If
we have placed such a device into orbit about our planet, would it be weird if
another species had done the same? And is it likely that there is written proof
of such devices in ancient texts and depictions discovered around the world?
My god, was this written by a child? So many grammatical errors it's comical.
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