COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
"Will we be ready
to put a human footprint on Mars in 15 years?'
I truly hope not, and I say this as a lifelong dreamer about
space and astronomy.
No project we could think of would be a bigger waste of resources
and time - almost as stupid as the American, Trump-supported proposal to revamp
much of that nation's nuclear weapons to make them more usable.
Robots like Curiosity - and its much-improved successors,
already being built - can do everything, and far more, than a few people in
bulky spacesuits with strict time limits on their oxygen and for how long they
can even be outside their protective environment.
And all that is on top of the known risks now of long
exposure to cosmic radiation and lack of gravity (during the voyage).
The whole idea is something that appeals to the child in us,
but it is not children who will do all this. It is thousands of very
highly-paid people using unbelievably expensive equipment over many years just to
do something that truly borders on a stunt.
The Apollo program grabbed all of our imaginations, but that
was half a century ago and in the context of a world struggle called the Cold
War. It also was a much, much less demanding and risky program.
Further, and importantly, we had not yet developed the
robotics and artificial intelligence we have now that allows us to pass through
the rings of other planets, to photograph Pluto, and to discover water on Mars.
Our technology now is growing by leaps and bounds regardless
of any space program, but poor old humans remain the limited creatures they
were.
A completely pointless idea championed by folks like
high-flying stock-promoter Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking in his dotage, and a
moron like former President Bush.
