The latest issue of MIT’s Technology Review sports an aging Buzz Aldrin, disappointed at how technology got us Facebook instead of proper space exploration. Sure Facebook is useful to millions, but it’s not the level of development and technological advancement that Aldrin and many others were hoping for.
We’re so close, and yet so far. In terms of space exploration we’ve only stepped out the door, venturing a few meters farther for only a few years after August 1969. Unlike 40 years ago, however, we can sustain human life in space for prolonged periods of time. A 3-year mission to Mars is at least plausible, if not feasible.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t go, but I bet there are thousands of people who’d go without thinking twice.
The problem is money – or rather, the problem is gathering the resources required for such an enterprise. The mistake here is equating resources with money. My point is, the more we wait, the more difficult it will be to go to Mars, and here is why.
We don’t have much cheap energy and resources left, probably only a few decades worth. As sad as it can be, fossil fuel is and always will be the cheapest form of energy that man will ever see. There simply isn’t another form of energy that is as convenient and as cheap as ancient dead trees. Escaping Earth’s gravity, landing on Mars, and coming back safely requires huge amounts of energy, huge spacecraft and, most importantly, several years of work – decades at best.
It’s not the energy required to lift off from the ground that limits our options – mostly because it’s still a tiny fraction of what it’s consumed each day. It’s the fact that society, and its ability to sustain such grand projects, depends on cheap energy. When cheap energy will finally come to an end, society will inevitably change for the worst.
So if we don’t go to Mars now, we’re not going at all. We’ll be grounded forever.
I admit that I have sort of an apocalyptic view, but humanity needs better goals. We need purpose. How much money and non-renewable resources are wasted in useless conflicts around the world? Hundreds billions dollars each year. So we have enough money and resources to kill ourselves, but not enough to go to Mars? Does not compute.
We almost have the technology, we only need the last decade of development. It would be crazy to quit now. Just remember that we have spacecraft outside the solar system, still working flawlessly after 35 years of service. Imagine what we could do with today’s technology!
It’s a dream, perhaps even a childish one, but it’s never been so close to reality. So, dear NASA and ESA, please let me see man setting foot on Mars before I’m too old to care. You have 30 years. Now go, the clock is ticking.