We live in troubling times, but when we look upward, it seems there’s ample grace waiting in the heavens. When scientists spotted what appears to be water geysers on one of Saturn’s icy moons. The discovery stirs up again the hope and dream of finding life elsewhere in the cosmos.

And as if in a fairy tale, Stardust, another space probe, also came back recently to earth with comet dust captured in its net. All the while, our Rovers continue to roam the surface of Mars and beaming back startling images of our neighboring planet.

Indeed, while thinkers and writers still haven’t come to terms with the full impacts of the forces of globalization, another age is already upon us.

Call it Cosmozation.

The word doesn’t exist yet in the dictionary, but then, two decades ago, neither did globalization. Soon, however, Webster will probably have to add cosmozation, or something like it, in order to address man’s intensifying relationship with the cosmos.

Roland Robertson, a social scientist, defines globalization as “The compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole.” The world shrinks, geographical constraints are overcome. Humans are, in fact, interacting and influencing one another on an unprecedented scale and intensity, regardless of the distances.

Taking Robertson’s definition a step further, however, it seems inevitable that the universe too, shrinks and compresses as we explore and measure it, and infer profound implications from our discoveries. Cosmozation is the process in which man’s awareness expands beyond the globe: He grows cognizant that he exists on intimate levels with the rest of the universe, that he is, in fact, interacting with it, and, increasingly, having an effect upon it.

Consider: we are now capable of seeing potential objects that might hit earth and more importantly, work together to deflect it were it to become a threat. What is astounding is not that another sizable asteroid might collide with earth, but that we think we can do something about it. Unlike the dinosaurs which were said to have been wiped out by a previous big meteorite impacting, we have, in effect, become active agents in this process.

A few years ago, a meteorite from Mars known as the Allan Hills meteorite astonished the world when scientists said they found tantalizing traces of fossilized life within it. Their findings have been contested, but the meteorite renewed enthusiasm for the idea of panspermia (Greek for “all- seeding”) — the interstellar exchange of DNA, a theory championed by Francis Crick, who discovered the DNA molecule with two other scientists half a century ago. Besides, there is such a thing as self fulfilling prophecy: If Earth didn’t receive DNA for a startup way back when, we are now actively sending out DNA through space with our spacecraft and satellites and shuttles.

We know Earth is constantly bombarded by meteors when we look up into the night sky and spot shooting stars. But more astounding is what astronomer Lou Frank speculated about a decade ago and found new evidence for only recently. Using the Hubble telescope to study Earth’s atmosphere, Frank proved that Earth is constantly hit by snowballs from space. The implications are enormous: If snowballs from outer space hit Earth regularly, it is “snowing” onto other planets, too, providing much-needed water for the primordial soup.

We are slowly discovering that ours is not just a lonely blue planet amid the heavens but, in fact, it exists as part of an open and intricately complex system. Distant planets and alien civilizations, if once the stuff of science fiction, are beginning, to be seriously considered by scientists. Astronomer Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, a researcher at University of Denver readily confesses: “I personally believe that there are many civilization out there … The distances are staggering and communication is a problem, especially if that civilization is in another galaxy. But with imagination and a very sophisticated technology, I think we could probably overcome the distance limitation and communicate with others.”

Consider: Until 600 years ago, we assumed our world was at the very center of the universe, and that it was flat, and was orbited by the sun. We’ve come a long way in seeing our relations with the cosmos. These days, we are planning manned mission to Mars, study dust from comets, and search for life in distant stars.

Indeed, the sea on which modern man now sails is infinitely more vast and wondrous than that of Columbus. And if modern life has its pitfalls, and if cynicism often colors our worldviews, we can always look up to the starry night and be awe and re-enchanted.

The cosmic age has arrived.