By One Wednesday a NASA rocket was launched
from near Santa Barbara USA.
Its mission was to try to nudge a hapless
asteroid called Dimorphos – debris
from the Big Bang or a useless bit of kit
left on the Great Clockmaker’s untidy
work bench – out of its orbit ten months later.
This multi-million dollar experiment
was to see if humans have the know-how
to stop an asteroid destroying the Earth.
The same day thirty one men, women
and children drowned in the English Channel –
closer to the English coast than the French –
crossing the sea for a better life, seeking
asylum and refuge from havoc, mayhem,
migrating like humans have for epochs,
the want and the need part of our DNA.
Some tweeted, texted, messaged their distress.
Relatives’ grief was broadcast on the news.
What creatures we are! Unwilling to prevent
wars or show minimal kindness to strangers
in extremis, but capable of diverting
a large lump of rock – more than six million miles
away – from the orbit it has followed
since shortly after the beginning of time!
asteroidChannel small boat crossingsDART Double Asteroid Redirection Test
What do you think?