prograde burn

Astronomical chart from a 1933 issue of <n>Natural History</n> magazine.

<n>Calendar cover</n> by <n>Ettore Vitale</n>, 1989.

## Energy is motion. Motion is time. Time is life. Life is energy.

Cycles are the answer to everything. If the universe were static, meaning all mass was suspended in position, there would be no life, time, or stars. Just dead rocks stuck indefinitely.

The heat from the stars created time. It set the planets in motion creating life and death as we know it. A planet dies much like we do: when its orbital trajectory flies too close to the sun. As cycles pass the planet ages and its orbital track becomes less viable until it gets eaten by its creator; becoming fertilizer. The same happens to us on the micro-scale. Our molecules eventually stop orbiting efficiently and the earth reclaims us.

What is this strange almost goo-like muck of a force we call gravity that gives us a window of healthy cycles before the system reaches its limit? And where did all the initial energy come from?

The <n>Space Shuttle Endeavour</n> silhouetted against Earth's atmosphere during the <n>STS-130 mission</n> in 2010.

Digital illustration <n>Engine maintenance</n> (2014) by artist <n>Maciej Rebisz</n>.