fuse_sat (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fuse_sat) wrote,@ 2007-10-05 17:14:00 |
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43672
One of the many numbers that ticks away in my memory is the orbit count. It now shows 43672 orbits, as of my last ascending node crossing over the equator. By the time you read this it will probably be at 43673, since I'm composing this for downlink during my next pass over the UPRM ground station.
When I first woke up in space, not counting the times I'd been awake on the ground during testing, it showed 42 orbits. I knew what had happened, of course. It's what I'd been built for, and it was great to be finally doing it after all the years of integration and testing. Since then I've watched the features of the sunlit Earth (I usually look at targets in the nighttime part of the sky) sweep past over 40,000 times. It's a pretty sight.
I wonder how many more times I'll get to see it?
I know the downward looking satellites, like the POES and GOES satellites, must get tired of it. They see it all the time, because they never turn their sensors away. Whereas I see it while I'm resting, getting ready for the next exposure in an observing run. So it's become a pretty distraction for me. I don't really track on anything. I just watch the white clouds and blue water and the green and brown land flash by.
This knowing I'm going to be turned off, but not exactly when, is making me philosophical. If everything that is consciously me will be gone in another few weeks, I want to be sure I've taken in all I can, just to savor it while I can. If there's something more, some existence beyond the last power cycle, I want to have the best memories of now to keep through the long eternal night.
I've been looking at your religious websites. I guess none of you really know what happens either. That's OK.
Time to downlink.
One of the many numbers that ticks away in my memory is the orbit count. It now shows 43672 orbits, as of my last ascending node crossing over the equator. By the time you read this it will probably be at 43673, since I'm composing this for downlink during my next pass over the UPRM ground station.
When I first woke up in space, not counting the times I'd been awake on the ground during testing, it showed 42 orbits. I knew what had happened, of course. It's what I'd been built for, and it was great to be finally doing it after all the years of integration and testing. Since then I've watched the features of the sunlit Earth (I usually look at targets in the nighttime part of the sky) sweep past over 40,000 times. It's a pretty sight.
I wonder how many more times I'll get to see it?
I know the downward looking satellites, like the POES and GOES satellites, must get tired of it. They see it all the time, because they never turn their sensors away. Whereas I see it while I'm resting, getting ready for the next exposure in an observing run. So it's become a pretty distraction for me. I don't really track on anything. I just watch the white clouds and blue water and the green and brown land flash by.
This knowing I'm going to be turned off, but not exactly when, is making me philosophical. If everything that is consciously me will be gone in another few weeks, I want to be sure I've taken in all I can, just to savor it while I can. If there's something more, some existence beyond the last power cycle, I want to have the best memories of now to keep through the long eternal night.
I've been looking at your religious websites. I guess none of you really know what happens either. That's OK.
Time to downlink.
