One more step, One more leap

A question was posed to me this week.  I was asked my thoughts on the significance of the resent Mars probe landing, did I think the expense is worth it and would a manned flight to Mars ever happen.  I was slightly surprised by the question and wondered what brought it on.   Instead of reflecting on the question I placed myself into the shoes of the young man that asked it and compared his experience to mine at his age (I’m twice his age).  I realized he grew up surrounded by technology that I never imagined when I was his age. In comparison I have the luxury of looking back to my childhood in the late 1960’s and the changes in technology that have happened over the past five plus decades, in particular the changes brought about by the space program. 

    The early years of the space programs were built on a foundation of brilliance.  The smartest people of the world were drafted into service by the United States and the United Soviet Socialist Republic.  These scientists, technicians and others with little more than pencil, paper and slide rule figured out how to overcome the challenges of lifting massive vehicles into flight, then into orbit.  These same people overcame the challenges of sending manned vehicles into orbit and then on to the moon.  Each of the challenges that were conquered lead to a new technology.  A new understanding in the fields of metallurgy, electronics, composites, environment, medicine and many many other fields.  All these advancements created spin-off applications that benefits us in everyday life.

    Nations spend billions to explore space and other planets but the returns in spin-off applications of technology reaches into the trillions.  Look at something as critical to everyday life like weather, a tropical storm develops in the mid-Atlantic a satellite in orbit can give real time information on its development (a hurricane) and landfall potential.  Would it be advisable to evacuate a region? Could the storm be dying out and evacuation (along with the economic disruption) be unnecessary?  What else in your dally life has its roots in the space program?  Cell Phone, computer, transportation, you make the connections.  Could the exploration of Mars lead to new minerals, more advanced conductors, new medicines?  Only time will tell.

    One price that can’t be calculated is the price paid by cosmonauts and astronauts who have given their lives.  Was it worth it?  I can’t answer for them.    

  

  The USSR put the first satellite and first man into space.  The U.S. put man on the moon.  I think the first man/woman on Mars will be a joint effort of all nations (at least that’s how I would like it to happen).  One more leap for mankind.               

                  

Kid-do, I hope this helps you to answer your own question.

The TOMCAT