February 18, 2021
Why are so many countries going to Mars?
NASA's Perseverance rover is ready to land on Mars. The rover, which launched this summer as the star of the agency's Mars 2020 mission, will touch down today (Feb. 18) in Jezero Crater, an ancient delta on the Martian surface. Perseverance, or "Percy" for short, will explore the Martian terrain and conduct several science investigations. Among its objectives, Percy will collect samples, deploy the first helicopter beyond Earth, and search for signs of ancient life on the fourth planet from the sun.
But wait, didn’t the United Arab Emirates just announce that their space craft arrived at Mars last week.
It seems like everyone, who can, is trying to develop a space agency to explore the great above. China is going to the moon. The UAE is going to Mars. And then there is NASA - who seems to be going everywhere. And then there are the private guys like Elon Musk and SpaceX. Doesn’t it seem to be a waste of resources.
I am not sure, but I would hope that the individual countries are sharing technologies. It makes more sense to pool the global brain power with a unified push to explore space.
However, everyone seems to be doing their own thing. For example, due to security concerns, all researchers from NASA are prohibited from working with Chinese space program. In April 2011, the 112th United States Congress banned NASA from using its funds to host Chinese visitors at NASA facilities. In March 2013, the U.S. Congress passed legislation barring Chinese nationals from entering NASA facilities without a waiver from NASA. I’m sure it has just gotten worse since then.
We should do it the Star Trek way. Have the “United Federation of Planets”, or in this case, create a “United Earth Federation” which would coordinate and control interplanetary exploration and travel. Of course the logistics of this in todays world is ridiculous and then how do you pay for it?
I was watching “Apollo 11” the other day and it was funny how all the astronauts expressed their opinions and interviews based on the collective world for the betterment of mankind as a whole. All the politicians that spoke said it was a great day for the Unites States. Believe me - it is a great achievement and something to be proud of. It’s just a different mentality. Mine verse ours. It is still hard to believe that they made it to the moon with the technology they had.
Getting back to Mars, I did finally find some kind of a global overseeing organization. It is called the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group. (MEPAG). They are responsible for providing science input needed to plan and prioritize Mars exploration activities. MEPAG serves as a community-based, interdisciplinary forum for inquiry and analysis in support of Mars exploration objectives. To carry out its role, the MEPAG updates goals, objectives, investigations and required measurements for robotic and human exploration of Mars in response to new discoveries and directions based on the widest possible community outreach. Currently, the four overarching MEPAG goals are:
Determine if Mars ever supported Life
Understand the processes and history of Climate on Mars
Understand the origin and evolution of Mars as a Geological System
Prepare for Human Exploration
MEPAG meetings are open to all members of the planetary exploration community, particularly those scientists, engineers, project and program personnel, theoreticians and experimentalists, instrument scientists, and modelers who are interested in Mars exploration. International participation is welcomed and solicited as appropriate, including reports of activities by the various space agencies.
Not that I know, but I still think these are just recommendations and there is no binding authority to any international space agency.
Currently there have been 49 spacecraft missions (including unsuccessful ones) from nine (9) countries - 6 missions in the last 2 years
What about the other aspects of space travel? MEPAG only deals with Mars. I can’t seem to find any other organizations that are globally based.
Shouldn’t we all be in this together? What will it take for all the scientists of the world to get together and put a global game out there?
That’s it for now. Let’s hear what you have to say.
Ronco 😊
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