“Maybe we’re on Mars because of the magnificent science that can be done there — the gates of the wonder world are opening in our time. Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us by the evolutionary process. We come after all from hunter gatherers, and for 99.9 per cent of our tenure on Earth we’ve been wanderers. And the next place to wander to, is Mars.” — Astrophysicist and science philosopher Carl Sagan
TO sail beyond the sunset has long been a human urge. And Mars beckons as another explorer’s glorious dawn.
The ship that first get us there will be every bit as rickety as the windjammers of old, and the ebb-and-flow of cosmic winds just as dangerous to its navigators.
Once there, humanity will be strangers in a strange land — a long, long way from home. Radiation swept deserts. Scarce, brackish water. Red dust.
Then there’s the question: Is there life here? Or is it a true terra nullius?
But our curiosity is piqued. The wanderlust is growing.
Our robots are already visiting other worlds. Now many in the space community feel it is time to venture forth ourselves.
But we’re not quite ready yet. NASA is convinced we have what it needs to get to Mars and back. Even to establish an outpost there.
All that remains is to muster the will to put it all together. And make it work.
Here’s what you can expect with tomorrow’s Parramatta weather
As summer moves towards autumn what can locals expect tomorrow? We have the latest word from the Weather Bureau.
Here’s what you can expect with tomorrow’s Parramatta weather
As summer moves towards autumn what can locals expect tomorrow? We have the latest word from the Weather Bureau.