On Aug. 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars. Its mission is to study the climate and geology of Mars, discover whether Mars may have once—or currently does—support life, and to determine if human life could be supported on the red planet. I distinctly remember that date because of the hype that surrounded its landing. Curiosity was hyped as the biggest scientific advancement since the International Space Station was launched. I remember how millions of people, myself included, watched the live stream of its descent. As it landed in the wee hours of the morning, we saw a glimpse of the first images the rover would take. In the 38 months since its landing, our own curiosity for Mars hasn't diminished. The discovery of flowing water has been making headlines worldwide.
Last week, those living in the Western Hemisphere were treated to a rare phenomenon: a Super Blood Moon. A Super Blood Moon occurs when a supermoon (when the moon is at its closest point to earth, roughly every 14 months) coincides with a lunar eclipse (when the moon passes through Earth's shadow, called a "blood moon" because of the moon's reddish color during an eclipse). It's so rare that the next time we see this phenomenon won't be until 2033. I had to watch the Curiosity landing from my iPad in bed. This time, however, I was able to see the eclipse from my campus's quad with some good friends and hundreds of students whose fascination with space paralleled mine.
Man has been fascinated with space from the first time the first caveman looked at the stars. For centuries, we enhanced our knowledge of space with help from the brilliant minds of Galileo, Kepler, and Brahe, among others. During the 1950s and '60s, we developed the technology to make our dreams of exploring the mysteries of space into a reality. The Space Race may very well be the peak of "space culture" as well; science fiction was never more in vogue than it was during this time, and at the forefront of this new pop culture movement were stories about the "final frontier," as Mr. Spock would say. Likewise, thanks to the Cold War and the significance placed on our progress, space was never more talked about in the news than it was during the Space Race.
After our last venture to the moon with Apollo 17, space has lost a lot of its presence in the news. However, major advancements such as the space shuttles and the International Space Station still draw our eyes toward the skies. Additionally, our cultural obsession will only continue to grow; movies such as the "Star Wars" trilogy, the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" novels, and TV shows such as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" are some of the most highly regarded pieces of media that reflect our ongoing obsession with space.
So what about space captivates us? Personally, I think it's no different from the reasons Ponce de Leon set out for the fountain of youth, or why Marco Polo set off to discover the mysteries of China. Man, by our very nature, is thrilled by the idea of discovery, especially the discovery of places never seen before. And space offers no shortage of opportunities to discover; it is, after all, an ever expanding "final frontier" rife with undiscovered worlds with the potential to uncover the mysteries of why we are here. So when we look at the night sky during a Super Blood Moon or watch the next biggest scientific achievement from millions of miles away, we are connected to the spirit inside us that yearns to open more doors and discover new adventures.
