[FPSPACE] McCain would like to see a man on Mars

[LARRY KLAES]

Thanks, Edward.  I wonder how much McCain read of or remembers from Ray
Bradbury's Martian Chronicles?

The Martians kill the first few manned expeditions from Earth.  Then our 
diseases
wipe out the Martians.  Then we colonize Mars and mess up that planet too, 
but
most everyone returns when Earth has a nuclear war (never quite understood 
why
they didn't stay put under such a situation).  A few people are left to 
become the
new Martians.

A good book and well written stories, to be sure, but not quite the first 
one I
would choose as an inspiration symbol to colonize Mars and space in general.

McCain is right that NASA needs to do more to make space exciting, which is
ironic when you think the very subject of space exploration would be 
exciting
enough.  Of course being a government bureacracy that alone puts annoying
restrictions on NASA.  And I don't think any private space firms are quite 
ready
yet for a manned Mars expedition.

I just hope when we do send people to Mars that it is to stay.

On the other hand, perhaps this particular way of thinking is becoming a bit
outmoded.  Check out the latest Space Review article on a recent discussion
about the Presidential candidates and their views on space. Steve Robinson,
a staff member of Barak Obama, made some interesting comments regarding
the humans vs. robots in space debate here:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1142/1

To quote the relevant parts:

Later, O’Brien picked on the theme of inspiration: wouldn’t committing to 
send humans to Mars, he asked, promote inspiration and stimulate interest in 
much the same way as Apollo did 40 years ago? “I’d like to remind you that 
we actually are on Mars, and have been on Mars for four days,” Robinson 
said, referring to the Phoenix lander.

“I think for many people of my generation, we think of inspiration as being 
a person on a planet. I think there’s a huge amount of inspiration from the 
pictures we’ve seen in the last week of a parachute, a heat shield, and a 
lander on the surface of another planet. I think we shouldn’t limit what 
inspires us to just exploration by humans. Exploration by robots can also be 
tremendously inspirational.”

“There aren’t any high schools named after robots, are there?” O’Brien 
asked.

“No, but they are at high schools building robots,” Robinson responded. “I 
think it’s important, and my boss thinks it’s important, to have a balance 
between robotic exploration and human exploration, and to not discount the 
fact that we are now on Mars, and have been for four days.”

Robinson, a high school teacher before coming to Washington to work for 
Obama, argued that, for students and young adults, robotic exploration might 
be more interesting and inspiring than for older generations. Students are 
using advanced technology, like robots and the Internet, “in such a way that 
people of our generation maybe discount because we don’t understand it as 
much as the next generation does.”

Wouldn’t be more inspiring, though, O’Brien continued, to send humans to 
Mars than just robots? “To me, yes; to some of my high school students, I’m 
not sure,” Robinson said. “To some of my high school students, it might be 
more inspiring if we built ways for them to connect to probes on Mars that 
they could actually interact with in real time… I think we shouldn’t limit 
our view of inspiration to what inspires us. I think other people may be 
inspired, and other generations may be inspired, in other ways. I’m not 
inspired by Second Life, but a lot of kids are.”

Larry



>From: "Edward Hudgins" <ehudgins at Objectivistcenter.org>
>Reply-To: <ehudgins at atlassociety.org>
>To: "'LARRY KLAES'" <ljk4 at msn.com>,<fpspace at friends-partners.org>
>Subject: McCain would like to see a man on Mars
>Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:32:09 -0400
>
>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606111510.5jnz56gu
><http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606111510.5jnz56gu&show_article=
>1> &show_article=1
>
>
>
>McCain would like to see a man on Mars
>
>
>
>Jun 6 07:15 AM US/Eastern
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>Presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain said Thursday he
>would like to see a manned mission to Mars as part of a "better set of
>priorities" for NASA that would better engage the public.
>
>At a townhall event in Florida, the Arizona senator was asked about funding
>for the US space agency's shuttle program, which is due to end in 2010.
>
>
>
>He said he "would be willing to spend more taxpayers' dollars" to continue
>the program but argued that NASA must do a better job of inspiring the
>American public, as when it sent a man to the moon in 1969.
>
>
>
>McCain said one of his favorite books as a child had been Ray Bradbury's
>1950 novel "The Martian Chronicles," about humans colonizing the Red 
>Planet.
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>
>
>"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the
>imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it 
>looks
>like," he said.
>
>
>
>"We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that
>project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that."
>
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