Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Sometimes, nothing could be farther from the truth than the old adage: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Consider, for example, the NASA 2021 MastCam-Z views of the landing site from the Perseverance Rover. In stark contrast to the clarity of the most recent images captured on Mars, and what appears like "a beautiful day on a very far away planet", it is impossible to imagine an environment as inhospitable as the one that actually exists on planet Mars.
A beautiful sol: MARS 2021 wide-angle view of landing site from Rover Mastcam-Z
Succinctly, the temperature on Mars is extremely cold (on average -80◦F, a temperature only suitable for storing Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines). Mars’ atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2), with very little oxygen, which means that it is not possible to breathe Martian air. Devoid of a magnetic field, the surface of Mars is constantly bombarded by solar and galactic radiation, which is lethal to humans. Martian soil is also unsuitable for plants. There are no minerals or water (except at the Martian south pole, and in small quantities, as vapor in the atmosphere). Any liquid water is extremely salty. All of which is completely invisible in the mesmerizing images taken 300 million miles away, and beamed back to Earth (e.g., like the view included above).
What might follow, considering what is already known about Mars’ extreme environmental conditions, is why continue exploring this planet? Why, of all possible projects, defy the evidently, incredibly hostile, and terribly dangerous environment for a manned mission? Perhaps more bluntly, why spend so much money on sending the most advanced technology to a place termed a “hellhole” (Stirone, 2021), when so much of planet Earth begs desperately for both financing and solutions? Indeed, this is precisely how Jacqui Goddard, journalist from The Times of London posed the question, on behalf of her many non-scientific readers, on Feb. 22, 2021, during the NASA Press Conference, presenting recently edited Entry, Deployment and Landing (EDL) footage, and landing site images from Mars:
..what is the point of spending all this money to go to another planet and explore it? Sometimes that’s not even a question, it’s a statement. There are cynics out there. Can you say why we explore and how does humanity benefit from you finding out what you find out and doing what you do? [NasaPress Conference Transcript 01-27-28]
Two of the NASA spokespersons responded quite graciously to this question: Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, and Matt Wallace, Perseverance Deputy Project Manager. They both agreed on pointing out that 1. NASA’s far-out budget represents just a fraction of the budget spent on planet Earth, and 2. The scientific inquiry that drives NASA missions also has very practical consequences. The example cited was the Global Positioning System (GPS), which was developed by NASA within the context of satellite research, also under the auspices of the Space Agency. Intersections with the history of the wheel could also have been cited. Short of moving humanity backward a few steps, NASA research is precisely where many solutions are found, even humanitarian ones. In some forsaken places, for example, where there are no street names or addresses, GPS localization is the only way of delivering goods and services, or of finding people.
The
images from Mars may not tell all the
truth, but perhaps that this sort of omission
might be completely forgiven, considering
the beauty of the images, and most importantly, just the fact that they might be seen, at all–for free, in the name of inquiry.
Goddard, J. (Feb. 25, 2021) Why the billions spent on the Mars Perseverance mission will pay off. The Times. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-the-billions-spent-on-the-mars-perseverance-mission-will-pay-off-mcms8wq2w
NASA - Mars https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/
NASA – Space Radiation elements (HRP) https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/elements/radiation/miniseries
NASA Transcript for Press Conference on February 22, 2021. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/nasa-press-conference-transcript-february-22-perseverance-rover-searches-for-life-on-mars
Stirone, S. (Feb. 26, 2021) Mars is a Hellhole - The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/mars-is-no-earth/618133/
Ten things to know about Mars. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/#otp_ten_things_to_know_about_mars
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