Travel to Mars

The first of two websites dealing with the idea of traveling to and possibly finding life on Mars focuses on astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin. Zubrin believes that is is humankind's destiny to walk and live on Mars, and he has some interesting ideas concerning how to do this, and do it soon. He is probably quite correct that "NASA needs to have a central driving mission", as they seem to have lost their focus and drive over the past few decades. Zubrin also has a point that it is NASA's mission to "do 14 years from now what they did 50 years before" (which is to go to the moon). This is kind of ironic, but may be necessary to ensure that this time everything they do is safer and more efficient. Zubrin is of the opinion that humans can actually get to Mars within 10 years. I don't know if this is actually feasible or even possible, given the state of affairs the world is in now and the fact that colonizing Mars doesn't seem to be high on the priority list of most governments. However, I do think it is a fascinating and admirable goal. Zubrin also has some novel ideas on how to accomplish this, such as creating rocket fuel for the return flight from materials obtained on Mars to avoid having to carry the fuel the entire way. Another interesting idea that would progress his hoped-for eventual permanent Mars base is that the astronauts would travel to Mars in a "habitation module" while the return rocket was sent ahead to produce fuel; the habitation module would then be left on Mars to form part of the base, which would then be added on to by subsequent expeditions.

In contrast to Zubrin's ambitious but within-the-realm-of-possibility plans, Richard C. Hoagland is a former NASA consultant who believes firmly in the existence (or previous existence) of a higher civilization on Mars. As his evidence, he cites many photographs of the Martian surface showing what some believe to be geometric structures too regular to have been created by nature. The most famous of these is the "face" of Mars, which appears to be an enormous carving of a well-proportioned humanoid face. Hoagland argues that the "face" conforms to the classical standards of a face shape. This seems odd to me, however, because even if a higher intelligence did arise on Mars, who is to say that it would even REMOTELY resemble a human? I believe that this is beyond unlikely. Also, when later, clearer photographs of the "face" were taken by rovers, the structure looks much less like a face and more like a natural mound, eroded by weathering and time. Hoagland may be convinced that intelligent life has developed on Mars and that is has been covered up by the government, but I think he needs to re-evaluate his facts and not rely on conspiracy theory.