June 25, 2018
#2011: Newton's Trajectories explain
[The panel shows a shaded sphere with a rocket launched from its top to the right. Several trajectories are plotted around the sphere.]
[Trajectory 1 (in black) shows a successful circular orbit.]
Humans slip the bonds of Earth to travel the stars
[Trajectory 2 (in red) shows a ballistic arc that crashes into the sphere near the bottom.]
Civilization ends in fire
[Trajectory 3 (in red) shows a much shorter ballistic arc. No label.]
[Caption below the panel:]
In retrospect, Newton’s little cannonball drawing does a surprisingly good job illustrating the range of possible futures of our species.