Daring Mighty Things Then, Now, And In The Future

Keith’s note: I came across this photo by Morgan Cable standing in an ice cave and was instantly reminded of the iconic photo taken by Herbert Ponting in Antarctica in 1911. I hope NASA PAO starts to pay a little more attention to the parallels between terrestrial and extraterrestrial exploration as we move out into the solar system with humans and droids. Indeed, that core notion was the impetus for a NASA Administrator’s Symposium that Astronaut John Grunsfeld and I organized for NASA in 2004: “Risk and Exploration Earth, Sea And The Stars” (proceedings for which I was co-editor) Photos: [LEFT] NASA JPL scientist Dr. Morgan Cable tweeted via @starsarecalling on 16 September 2023. Her caption says: “Mapped a moulin today with LIDAR! We’re here at Athabasca Glacier in Canada to do science and engineering testing for the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) Project @NASAJPL Dare mighty things!” [RIGHT] This photo was taken by Herbert Ponting on 5 January 1911 during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s ‘Terra Nova Expedition’ aka ‘The British Antarctic Expedition’. Charles Wright and Thomas Griffith Taylor are shown standing in the ice cave or “grotto”. Imagine the Ponting photo updated with Morgan Cable standing in an ice cave on Europa with a lander against. dark sky in the background while Jupiter looms on the horizon.