Elysian Fields No More...

I was born in an era - just - when the only satellite orbiting the Earth was the Moon itself. When I was just twenty days short of my third birthday, all of that changed with the launch into orbit around our planet of Sputnik 1 on October 4th. 1957, heralding the start of mankind's attempts at the exploration of space, and the last time that near-Earth orbit would be free of our influence. Today, according to NASA, some forty-five-thousand-plus human-made objects are rattling around in near-Earth orbit - and that's just the number that they can actually track - including approximately ten thousand physically active devices serving some purpose other than merely polluting their environment, unlike the other thirty-five thousand or so bits of space junk. Which reminds me that the very few people left born in the pre-nuclear age are doubly privileged, if they think about the matter at all. And now, Jeff Bezos is planning to get into competition with Elon Musk in space, by launching a further constellation of 3,236 satellites in increments, by some time in the near future. More potential space-junk. As if we haven't done enough damage to our planet, we seem hell-bent on putting more and more shit into space. If these billionaire dick-wads carry on at their present rate with the absolute approval of governments and regulatory bodies worldwide, there won't be enough safe space left through which to launch their stupid rockets with which they hope to colonise Mars. Madness. Utter madness. And it's a madness that's getting in the way of genuine astronomical and physical research; all in the name of profit. Just stop. Please...