Retoma das Viagens Interplanetárias Recebida com Alegria e Cepticismo
How Soon to the Moon? Sending humans back to the moon might divert money from other space science. Is it worth it?
To boldly go? Men on Mars are just so last century: Call me unimaginative but the thing that would make me weep for joy would be a plan to spend hundreds of billions of dollars giving every child in the world a school with a roof that did not leak and the best education money can buy. Like the first man on Mars, however, that is something unlikely to happen in my lifetime.
PRESIDENT BUSH PROMISES THE MOON AND MARS (by Robert L. Park)
Why now? Well, it's not "now." To pay for all this, the program depends on money made available by phasing out the shuttle over a period of six years, and completing our commitments to the ISS. After decades of telling the public that these two programs are essential to space exploration, we discover they're just standing in the way. None of this will happen on Bush's watch. Whether he's reelected or not, the big bills won't start coming in until Bush is safely out of office. In fact, it's unlikely to happen at all. Even as the President spoke, the Spirit rover on Mars appeared to be working perfectly. It doesn't break for lunch or complain about the cold nights. Long before a human could land on Mars, there won't be much left to explore. Politicians tend to underestimate the public. An AP poll found 57 percent favor having robots explore the moon and Mars; 38 percent said humans.
