Posted on 06/23/2009 11:29:37 AM PDT by philsfan24
We have remained, since our Apollo days, locked in Earth orbit. But five years ago, NASA was tasked with returning to the moon by 2020, rerunning the moon race that we won 40 years ago. Not surprisingly, this new race has failed to ignite the imagination of young Americans -- or their leaders.
What we truly need is not more Cold War-style competition but a destination in space that offers great rewards for the risks to achieve it. I believe that destination must be homesteading Mars, the first human colony on another world.
By refocusing our space program on Mars for America's future, we can restore the sense of wonder and adventure in space exploration that we knew in the summer of 1969. We won the moon race; now it's time for us to live and work on Mars, first on its moons and then on its surface.
Exploring and colonizing Mars can bring us new scientific understanding of climate change, of how planet-wide processes can make a warm and wet world into a barren landscape. By exploring and understanding Mars, we may gain key insights into the past and future of our own world.
Just as Mars -- a desert planet -- gives us insights into global climate change on Earth, the promise awaits for bringing back to life portions of the Red Planet through the application of Earth Science to its similar chemistry, possibly reawakening its life-bearing potential.
Four decades ago, I was privileged to have been part of a great mission of exploration and discovery. But America's future in space has only just started. It is time for us to continue the journey.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
>>Better than going to Mars... we should open up the moon (at least the far side) to mining. That way, we can get commerce to find some innovative ways to get to the moon at less cost, and safely, and that’s most of the work of getting to and from Mars. And then once at Mars, yes, we can study terraforming a bit and figure out how much our atmosphere really affects us. <<
Really need to work on building a infrastructure on the moon that is mostly robotic mining and smelting and manufacturing base. That way when we send people back to the moon , everything will be ready and mostly built for them. We could even establish a permanent colony built by robots and later settled by humans with minimal effort.
Robotic mining techniques could also help us mine the earth in areas that are harsh like the deserts and the antarctic.
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