Good Night Oppy
Space exploration can make you cry
A quick post to recommend a science documentary about space exploration that will make you cry: Good Night Oppy. It tells the story of a Mars exploration rover affectionately nicknamed Oppy. She was actually one of twin rovers that were sent up to explore Mars in 2003 by NASA in our search for (signs of) water.
The two rovers, named Opportunity and Spirit, were expected to last a mere 90 “sols” (aka Mars days, 40 minutes longer than earth days), because the dust on Mars would in that time occlude their solar panels, cutting off all energy.
But a miraculous phenomenon allowed the rovers to explore Mars for years — Spirit, — deemed a troublesome child from its inception — lasted 6 years but Oppy went on to explore Mars for nearly 15 years!
In those years the scientists and the engineers who’d designed, built and launched the rovers became, well, a little attached to them. I won’t reveal too much and let you discover this film for yourself. But the sentiments of the NASA crew for their creations even as they guide and watch over them from 54 million miles away, their pride in the unexpected resilience of their progeny, the connections they make within their own personal lives and eventually their sorrow at having to let Oppy go, left me with a sweet sadness and an overwhelming awe for the magic of space, existence and the meaning of our little yet mighty place in it all!
One can always look at such phenomenon and dismiss is as simply anthropomorphizing inanimate objects. Or we could appreciate how beautiful is this human capacity for finding significance in our experiences, our creations as part of our sense of wonder for this beautiful universe. What a wonderful capacity it is to connect our own condition and place in the natural world with what we create and do even within the milieu of hard science and engineering. It’s a beautiful place to be, one that makes life worth living and perhaps points to a deeper wisdom.
Hope you’ll enjoy this 90 minutes of beauty and wonder as much as I did.
PS. And in case you haven’t noticed I’m trying something different - shorter, less dense posts in between my longer heavy poetry + essay ones. Let’s see where this goes as the new year spins around.
Yet, since I’m a poet, here’s a Haiku to celebrate this coming turning point…
why can’t Spring start years?
random start to recount days
new shoots, leave and hope
I will definitely watch it
What a lovely recommendation. I agree, this capacity to relate is amazing. It is the hope for the future, as well. Maybe one day...
I loved the poem, too.