Point-Counterpoint: Manned missions to Mars
PRO: Steve Dickerson
Exploration has always been the key to human advancement. Our need to seek and learn is what led us to cross oceans, tame the frontier, and defy gravity. It is what we do. Mars is simply the next step. Unfortunately, Americas taste for exploration seems to have dwindled over the years. Sure a moon landing was exciting in 1969, but then you land a few more times, play golf, you blow up a couple ships, and you lose a couple billion dollars and people begin to sour on the idea. I can’t say I blame them. But exploration has always been dangerous. Ferdinand Magellan’s famous expedition to circumvent the globe cost him not only two of his five ships, but eventually his own life. Amelia Earhart knew the risk she was taking when she attempted to fly around the world. Put bluntly, death is simply part of it. It’s a risk that must be taken. What would have happened if those people decided to stay home? Columbus decided before leaving Spain, that the trip would be too hard. What if Lewis and Clark decided to stay with their wives, and not discover a path to the Pacific? We would be stuck in the 15th century. Think about everything we have learned because of discovery. All the land we have discovered and the advancements in technology because of seeing what other people have done elsewhere. With so much of our galaxy still undiscovered, with so much we still don’t know, it would be silly not to explore. This is a necessary step to take. We need to focus on Mars, learn all we can and then move onto whatever is next.
CON: Evan Shields
When I read Buzz Aldrin’s column in The Washington Post about going to Mars, I felt ashamed. There’s no need for us to be sending more missions out into space. First of all, the cost is extreme. NASA says it costs around $450 million to launch one space shuttle. And that’s just a standard launch. Mars is roughly an eight-month trip, so fuel costs – of getting a shuttle to and from the red planet – will cost a pretty penny. Scientists are spending a lot of money and time researching what is going on in the deepest reaches of space. These issues have no concern to me. There are bigger things we need to worry about back on earth. We have a failing economy, we’re running out of oil, the unemployment rate is going up, just to name a few. Science should be focused on this planet; not on others. Science tends to lead us to question whether life can be sustained on Mars when things become so dire on this planet we have to leave. I don’t believe things will work on Mars. The temperature of the planet is far different than that on earth. Things would be too radical a change for humans to be able to handle. There’s a lot of space out there. It’s tough to know exactly what it has in store. Personally, I feel happier without knowing what is going on out in space. I’m satisfied with the affairs of earth. There’s no practical need to go to Mars. There’s nothing we could legitimately get out of the experience that would benefit us as a society. It’s better to just leave things alone. Let’s stay here on earth and focus on our own problems.
