If I was given the chance to go to Mars, you bet I would go in a heartbeat. What a challenge that would be. I do not believe for a minute that we are building along with our European and Russian friends a multi-billion dollar space station in earth orbit to eventually use it as a jump off point to other worlds and other points in our solar system as well as beyond. I truly believe that our first two stops which will eventually see permanent stations as well are the moon and the planet Mars. Before we go to Mars, I think we will be constructing a lunar base in order to assist the space station as well as earth stations that will be launching craft to travel around the solar system like rush hour traffic on major cities on earth. I believe both military and civilian personnel will be living among each other on both Mars, the moon and the space station.
Mars is the red planet. It has its share of major wind storms and might appear to be a dead and/or dying world. I for one think that there is a great deal of promise to Mars. We have had several unmanned missions to the planet and in my eyes they have been somewhat successful. I think we have seen things that one, either do not make sense and or two, are real and we need to take a closer look. Granted, we have seen plenty in the movies about Mars and how our directors and writers might envision Mars to be, but Mars is totally different than what we have seen. I do not believe there are little green men that come from the planet, but there is some form of life that we have to consider. At one time or another, Mars probably had plenty of water on the surface and may still have water somewhere beneath its surface. There are dry lake beds and rivers that are still “alive” on the red planet and we need to really focus on these. The only way to really get a real feel for our neighboring planet is to send humans there to explore and to collect as much information about it as possible.
I think that we are very close to going to Mars. The United States Space Agency, NASA, has had its ups and downs, but now is the time to take more risks. I hate to say this because I am not an astronaut and will never be, but I have had to vision and I support NASA one hundred percent. Anyone who has the guts to leave the confines of terra firma has my vote as a very brave individual. Going to Mars is extremely important as it is just another stepping stone to prove a great deal about life not only here on earth but throughout our own solar system and beyond.
