Why Should We Send a Manned Mission to Mars? - My View



Posted: Friday, August 21, 2009

by Luka Malgaj
http://www.mystressmanagement.net

Outer space has always fascinated human's imagination. Since the beginning of time people have been admiring the beauty of the night sky. The calm power of the stars and the majestic movements of the planets have influenced everything in people's lives. Their religious beliefs, poetry, folklore and art all show a degree of being affected by magnificent panorama that magically unfolded every night. They all had a common question; a question that has challenged their abilities for over five millennia. The question of whether and when will human beings leave their mark on the other planets. Today, with the advantage of new technologies and scientific breakthroughs, we have the power to reach up and make the ultimate dream come true. We have the possibility to send human being on Mars.

Our planet might be close to destruction. Thomas Gangale once wrote, " We cling to the hope of neighboring planet that harbors at least some primitive forms of life. If Mars contains even nanobacteria- or indisputable evidence of past life of the simplest forms-this will profoundly change our conception of our place in the universe". Our civilization has changed the climate already ,and from now on we have to deal with the Earth as a total dynamic system, trying to keep it in balance. The better we understand our planet, the better we will be able to keep it healthy. The reason why we should send people to Red Planet is that one of the most powerful scientific methods for understanding something is to compare it with other things like it. That is why Thomas Gangale says that we may have a great opportunity to know how close or far we are from destroying our planet if we compare it with Mars. There aren't many options when we look around for other planets similar to Earth. Mars is not only the best choice but probably the one. Some may say that we can send robots to make investigations on Mars. But the search for the life will be difficult to do mechanically, and we all know that people are much better at geology than robots.

Skeptics say that going on Mars is dangerous for health of astronaut. There will always be people who will say that we shouldn't go, like Patrick Clinton who claims that sending human to Mars may develop some serious health problems for them. He is convincing that illnesses such as appendicitis or ulcers which are easily cured on Earth, can create big problems on Mars because there will be no doctors near and astronauts will have to wait for treatment even for weeks. But we all know that discovery of new places has always involved some kind of risk. We have never gone to Mars before and we can't be sure what we will find or experience there. Mars is definitely not risk free. But it is the risk that hundreds of qualified men and women would like to have the chance to take, and hundreds of people would love to have a chance to open a new world for our next generation.

People can seed life on Mars what can protect us from destruction. It is another benefit of sending people to Mars because we will be able to seed Earth life on Red Planet and study how it evolves and adapts for the next several thousand years. The Mars environment may harbor life. There are many forms of life on Earth that could potentially survive in the harsh Mars climate.

What if we started sending drones to Mars or even scatter seeds and bacteria or viruses?

This would plant little ecosystem on the more habitable parts of Mars. Of course there are opponents who will object to this idea. They will appeal to scientific and religion ethics. They will want to keep Mars as it is and not change it. But that is impossible. There are too many good reasons to go there and do this. First of all, we would get higher lifeforms on other planet in case something terrible happens to Earth. Finally, space exploration will benefit all human beings with new discoveries and advanced knowledge. Sending people to Mars will later inspire our children and grandchildren to continue the space journey. Opponents say we should first get to know better our planet, but the truth is that almost everywhere on Earth has been explored, except parts of the deep ocean. Exploration is rooted in history of our planet. People have always craved for new discoveries. Although past missions were mostly political - military imperatives, the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where no scientists had gone before. It is important for us to have this opportunity to go to uninhabited Red Planet and to gain a great understanding of the wonderful outer space which surrounds us. Thanks to going to Mars we might be able to learn how to detect and monitor asteroids and comets that threaten to collide with earth. Devices could be detonated close to such bodies to deflect them away from their current course.

The rewards of exploring Mars are enormous and excellent. The money for going there is possible to get. Mars conditions can show us what our impulse to explore can achieve, and its environment can drive the creation of new forms of society. A mission to the Red Planet is one of the most important efforts for this generation to undertake. Let us not lose our chance.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Anonymous 2 years 260 days ago.
"They will appeal to scientific and religion ethics. They will want to keep Mars as it is and not change it."
 
Once again another misinformed and blatently false assertion. Sparing no opportinuty to disparage religion whenever and wherever possible. The fact of the matter is that both of the communities you put down where probably the most influential in the genesis of space exploration and will be so in the future. If you want to accurately blame any community's ethical stances for a position of demanding to keep any place or ecosystem just as it's found, it's the closed minded environmentalists. In their view if man touches it we'll ruin everything. In reality the very two communities you disparge are the very two who will be the most instrumental.
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