NASA's Parker Solar Probe is a daring mission to shed light on the mysteries of our closest star, the Sun. It's more than just a scientific mission for me, it's providing inspiration in my quest for human well-being.
I watched Parker Solar Probe's launch live in August 2018 and have replayed it dozens of times since. What impresses me is that the rocket is loved right from the very beginning, right through the launch countdown, even though it hadn't reached the Sun yet. This is true for all space missions, and I find it a profound analogy for pursuing life goals in general.
25 seconds into flight, the commentator said, “Chamber pressures continue to look good on all three boosters.” The rocket was a mighty Delta-IV Heavy, the most powerful rocket available, as it takes 55 times more energy to get to the Sun as it does to get to Mars.
Parker Solar Probe receives gravity assists from Venus to direct her trajectory closer and closer to the Sun. I believe in the Gaia hypothesis of the Earth as alive including human civilization as one intelligent being. Gaia reached out to her sister Venus for gravity assists to understand our home star.
Parker Solar Probe was only considered a 50-50 chance of success, as all the easy things have been done in space. After her first solar encounter in November 2018, she phoned home telling her controllers that she was in good health and continuing to collect science data. I posted to a Positive News Facebook group and shed tears of joy re-reading it many times since. Just this morning I woke up and all of my systems were healthy and operating normally!
Parker Solar Probe's first close approach is Christmas Eve 2024. A few orbits later she will run out of fuel needed to adjust the heat shield, and all that will remain will be the heat shield orbiting the Sun. But the important thing is not the physical survival of the probe, but the DATA that she has sent back to Earth. I find this a profound analogy for human life, that after the body dies and decomposes what is important are the saved wisdom in intentional thought, speech and bodily action.
"How do you keep patience going? How do you keep persistence going? By having a good sense of humor about what’s happening to you in the path and having an infinite good humor that can keep you going. This is the attitude that allows you to say, “Whoops, another mistake! – Well, try again! Another mistake? Try again!” It’s that ability to step back from yourself a bit to see what you’re doing and not to be so in to a particular state of mind or in to a particular identity that you can’t let it go." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Infinite Good Humor"
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