All the surrealists, humanists, poets, mystics, environmentalists, peacelovers, scientists, religious nuts, faeries, shamans, witches, pot-heads, DMT worshipers, paranoids, Jules Verne & H.G. Wells readers, buddhist monks, doctors and dreamers out there who were worried about terrible things happening when the two NASA impactors hit the moon at 5600 miles an hour today can breathe a sigh of relief – absolutely nothing happened ! In fact, despite all the media hype, twitter coverage, and millions of dollars of synchronised equipment involved from the earth’s surface to the moon, it seems the experiment has been mostly a waste of time and money. On the real time coverage supplied by NASA we see the first impactor – the Centaur – clearly dive-bombing into the dark crater, then nothing: no explosion, no miles-wide crater, no 10 km high plume of moon-stuff – nothing ! From the camera of the second impactor we see absolutely no trace of a devastating impact from the first; just a few old-looking micro craters on the flat floor of the target crater. Then the second vehicle’s camera goes blank maybe 20 seconds before it’s own impact was due, for no visible reason.
Here’s the first news report that I found after the event:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_sc/us_sci_shoot_the_moon
No doubt spontaneous prayer and meditation groups that sprung up around the world and got together in reaction to the announcement of the bombing will attribute this to strength and conviction of their combined spiritual energies, allied to the forces of light and a vegetarian lifestyle. The ufo/alien sects and pulp sci-fi fans will be reassured that an alien craft, appearing as a small thermal blip just before the crash obviously hit the impactors with a disintegrator ray to prevent the scarring of our “man in the moon”, thus saving the day to pass the time while preparing their fleets for the Great Californian Space Rapture… Distressed Haiku writers in Japan will stop donning their Samurai robes and preparing their Seppuku ritual and relax – they will be able to continue using the muse of the weekend moon-viewing tradition reassured that it won’t explode in their faces. Various witch covens, relieved they won’t be losing half their pantheon in one night, will celebrate with a frienzied orgy dedicated to the Lunar Goddess in her most fertile and liberating aspect. Werewolves everywhere will get off the Prozac and dog food and resume eating people with confidence.
The moon might just be sitting there – or rather speeding rather fast around us while maintaing a direct stare encompassing most of our activities – but it is much,much more than than a mere “celestial body” for a hell of a lot of people: an inspirer of artists and poets, a symbol of primordial, feminine and magical forces that effects us from an emotional level all the way down to the very substance of our bodies.
The symbolism of the moon is rich and powerful to enough people to make jealous any Forbes billionaire. This failed experiment could have been seen as just one more case of the bright soul of a marvelous, mysterious thing being ignorantly reduced to it’s most materialistic aspects, then shattered. I think we should discourage this tendency whenever possible or we might run out of poets and dreamers one day.
Perhaps if you want to do research on the water levels on the moon, a more humble and respectful approach would be more appropriate and affective, NASA ? The Gods, dreams, inspiration and ideals of many are watching over her, and I’m sure with all your technology you can find out about water on the moon without blowing bits of her up.
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