David Emery OnlineThis is what we need
23 August 2006
In these times of global terror, of war, of governments that cannot be trusted we need something. Something to focus on.
What we need, is a space program
Orion, NASA’s just-announced name for its forthcoming set of missions to the Moon and Mars signifies something exciting – or at least, something that I hope will be exciting. Just think how amazing it will be if we can actually manage to put a man on Mars… while it doesn’t magically solve all of the worlds problems, at least it would prove that we are still capable of something astonishing.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think that the US Government can actually follow through on a project this large? Sure, it requires a huge amount of money, but since when have the US been shy of spending money? Manned space missions – exploration missions – are the only way to galvanise the public into supporting the space program; it’s nice to see that NASA seem to be back on track.
Of course, just think what would happen if they discovered oil on Mars…