This is an archive article published on October 21, 2017

Opinion Cosmos for commoners

Google Maps now lets you go where no man has gone before

Aadhaar CEO needed the poetry of the universe to allay anxieties around data security.

October 21, 2017 12:14 AM IST First published on: Oct 21, 2017 at 12:05 AM IST

Using Google Maps, it is now possible to travel to many planets and their moons — from Venus to Pluto — as well as the international space station, a la Google street view.

Are you tired of boating around the crowded lake in Nainital? Do you need more gravitas than Goa can provide? Has Lonavla lost its charm? Time was when science fiction was the only respite from the monotony of terrestrial existence. And tacky graphics and the hazy approximations of one’s imagination the only way to “boldly go where no man has gone before”. But thanks to the good people at Google, people can now “zoom out” of the third rock from the sun and navigate the heavens from the comfort of their phones.

Using Google Maps, it is now possible to travel to many planets and their moons — from Venus to Pluto — as well as the international space station, a la Google street view. The new feature represents more than just a minor upgrade, or an interesting gimmick, in a widely used application. Last month, for example, the Cassini-Huygens probe completed its 20-year mission during which it explored vast swathes of our solar system, particularly around Saturn and its moons, and even found water and the possibility of organic life there. The spread and democratisation of technology means that ordinary people around the world — anyone with an internet connection — can appreciate and engage with the mission’s vast contribution to the compendium of human knowledge.

There is, of course, an element of the dystopic in our fascination with outer space. Elon Musk, tech billionaire and futurist, already has plans to colonise Mars once human activity makes Earth unlivable. And weren’t the exploration and surveys that accompanied the European Enlightenment followed by colonisation? For the most part, though, the users of Google Maps are not billionaires and the other celestial bodies in our solar system are devoid of sentient life. For all its faults, the internet, for the first time in human history, has made it possible for the commoner to explore the cosmos. Besides, if Musk’s travel plans make some people uncomfortable, there’s always Lonavla.