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In the same NPR story, there was a girl, couldn't have been more than 3
or 4 who said that she knew there were pretty flowers on Mars.  You
gotta love that vision.  Only a mere child and she is convinced that
there is life on Mars.

Stephen

Jason Jay Stevens wrote:

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>*****************************************************************************
>
>Nat'l Public Radio interviewed children about their thoughts
>on space travel, moonbases, and visiting Mars, the results
>of which were broadcast during All Things Considered
>Wednesday afternoon.
>
>'Twas rather disparaging to hear several of the young ones
>exclaim how great it is that we have another planetary
>option for when the Earth no longer supports life.
>
>Though I am a believer that Life has an innate desire to
>cross the Void (whether that be the Ocean or the Great
>Vaccuum), and sometimes (but not always) believe that
>crossing that Void may very well be "the Meaning of Life"
>or our Destiny, I have difficulty reconciling that
>belief with the evidence that we are so deeply dependent
>upon the environment the Earth provides for us, especially
>in comparison to the other planetary environments we've
>studied so far.
>
>One of the lessons we must learn from studying Mars is that
>our Earth is a precious and unique place, intricately
>meshed with our existence as human beings.
>
>The "When we've used this one up, we'll just move next
>door" attitude is rotten, and goes beyond the cynicism of my
>own generation, which was bad enough.
>
>It's sad to think that the destruction of our Terran habitat
>is a given to the children.  But why else should we
>want to go to Mars?  (Oil pipeline?) (<--Aha--maybe I do
>have them beat on the cynicism tip...)
>
>
>--Jason
>
>On Thu, 15 Jan 2004, Jonah Cohen wrote:
>
>
>>Someone here is horrendously misinformed. It's either me, or the
>>President of the United States. I would not mind at all if someone
>>pointed out why it is, indeed, me, but here's my beef:
>>
>>I dig space exploration as much as the next guy, but it seems to me that
>>Bush's new space initiative (establishing an ISS-style base on the moon
>>by 2015, then using that as a jumping off point for manned missions to
>>Mars) is just outright nuts. Has he been watching too much Star Trek?
>>
>>I mean, we have a difficult enough time maintaining the ISS. And it's
>>scientific benefits are debatable (Time Magazine lavbeled it "space
>>pork"; see also Bob Park's excellent book "Voodoo Science"). And when you
>>compare it's cost/benefit ratio to unmanned exploration, like Hubble or
>>the Spirit rover now cruising around Mars, it seems especially dubious.
>>So imagine how much more difficult it would be to construct and maintain
>>and operate and if need be evacuate such a station that's 160,000 (am I
>>right?) miles away, not just 125. I've seen the Apollo crafts at the
>>Smithsonian, and they don't look like they carry lots of cargo.
>>
>>Bush also thinks the manned missions to Mars could be launched from the
>>moon. I'm no rocket scientist, but I do know that launching a human into
>>space in any way (never mind 140,000,000 miles to Mars - and that's just
>>1 way!) requires lots and lots of people, lots of safety checks and lots
>>of fancy equipment. How are you going to manage to construct and operate
>>Cape Canaveral 2 on THE MOON?
>>
>>And aside from the technological difficulties, what's the reward for all
>>this? My favorite laugher was when Bush said his plan would let us
>>harvest the moon's abundant natural resources. Say what?!?!? I know of no
>>valuable resources there - and even if there are some, how could they
>>possibly be so valuable that spending billions of dollars to recover
>>small quantities of them makes any economic sense?
>>
>>So please tell me: am I a space moron? Am I missing the obvious? Or is
>>the mainstream media in serious derelect of duty in not pointing out the
>>scientific illogic of this plan?
>>
>>Scratching my head,
>>Jonah Cohen
>>Outreach & Public Programs Manager
>>Science Center of Connecticut
>>
>>
>>"Too many whites are getting away with drug use.
>>The answer is to... find the ones who are getting away with it, convict
>>them,
>>and send them up the river."
>>      -Rush Limbaugh
>>
>>
>>________________________________________________________________
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>>
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>
>JasonJayStevens
>
>mediaArts+Sound
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