[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Quote:
|
DART is the world's first planetary defense test mission, intentionally executing a kinetic impact into Dimorphos to slightly change its motion in space.
|
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-eye-na...ges-space.html
So we launched it, it opened it's 'eye' and is now orienting itself according to star maps. Then it's going to point itself at the asteroid and wham!
When DART impacts next Sept. 26, 2022 it will mark a major milestone in human development.
I'm not talking about deflecting asteroids. That's great news of course; I would hate to be squashed by a giant rock right in the middle of a raptor quad. Being able to control the voluminous garbage field that floats around in our system is important.
But this is more significant than that. Next September humanity will achieve military superiority over the entire Solar System. DART is a 'redirector' but it is also a weapon. It's true that our competition is microbes at best. But these microbes are now at our mercy.
In order to improve the system, stronger engines will be installed. It will be bigger, able to handle more instruments and a material payload. It will have an AI installed, better able to handle operations when not in contact with control. These will fly around the Solar System, keeping order and moving things around a little to suit our needs.
But there are other threats besides local geology. Stuff can arrive from far away so it only makes sense to cast the net wider. And wider.
Unquestionably though, the biggest threat to us can come from a sentient entity. Chances are if we meet other life it will seek to kill us as quickly as possible. Especially if they find out about our horrific history of murder, slavery and torture in the pursuit of conquest. Oh yeah, we're a real powder keg. You would put down the Humans too, don't deny it.
Striking first is the only way. Just as the United States never renounced the First Strike Doctrine, Humanity must also follow that dictum.
We will send out machines into space, powered by hate and capable of murder in the grandest of terms. They will open their eyes and seek out life wherever they find it. With one single purpose of mission they will put an end to that threat. They will repair themselves and when necessary, make more. We will not name them after von Neumann, but after Saberhagen.
If you live long enough you can recount to your children how you watched the first Berserker power up and begin to serve us. And millennia later, long after our servants have turned on their masters, they will recount that day too but in a slightly different manner.