Year in Review - 2023 🛰️
Thank you for your support!
Looking back, 2023 was another year that seems to have gone by really fast. Honestly, everything after 2019 zoomed by quickly. Don’t know if that was because of the pandemic or having my first kid. But it’s been exhausting and fun at the same time.
Looking at what I wrote last year, my goal was to cover the main story line of important missions and their costs — funding our curiosity. The year started with wrapping up of the Voyager series —
12: Our Messengers To The Cosmos
The totality of Voyager mission firsts and successes cannot be summarized easily. Launched in 1977, Voyager-2 had already explored Neptune, the last planet in our solar system by 1989.
But that plan took a diversion as someone asked a straightforward question — “Why should we care about space now?”. Which seemed like a good opportunity to answer that question in more depth. So “Why care about space” became the main topic —
Why should YOU care about space?
That’s the most common question I get asked. It’s not even an unfair question to ask. Most of us aren’t spending our daily lives trying to keep up with the progress of various space programs.
After wrapping that up, it seemed like I needed to get back to the main topic. NewHorizons and Pluto became the next priority —
13: Aiming at Pluto's Heart - Part 1
This is a story about an elusive Planet ‘X’, that shot to fame overnight and became the ‘god of the underworld’, only to then be demoted to dwarf-status. But it turned out to have a planet-sized heart.
Next I would have moved to writing about LIGO or some other mission. But 2023 had other plans. Humanity took a step back — Climate change broke all-time records and yet we decided to open old wounds.
Two Hot Wars & Many Cold Ones
Recent global events have triggered a shared sense of shock and sorrow. After haphazardly consuming news updates, we eventually put those events into our personal context and move on. Despite the differing details, these incidents appear remarkably similar.
Now I plan to get back to the main series, with few diversions in between. Hope 2024 is a happy and productive year for everyone.
