The Time to Go to Mars is Now
The world appears more fraught than ever amidst shifts. Conflicts are inflamed, and the specter of a world war has entered the cultural discourse. Meanwhile, the nature of social media has converged with neo-tribal divisions of politics, leading to a mindset of permanent battle. For many, things have never seemed as bad as they are now. Whether justified or not, a sense of dread, pessimism, and cynicism has become all-pervasive.
Exploring the frontiers of space would appear to be a distant priority in this context. The opposite is true. There is no better time to double down on space exploration and accelerate the momentum.
The time to go to Mars is now.
On May 25, 1961, then-President John F. Kennedy announced the intention of America to put a man on the moon before a Joint Session of Congress. It was a clear juxtaposition with the moment at hand. Racial tensions were inflamed at home; abroad, revolutionary fervor had engulfed the world. The following year witnessed the Cuban Missile Crisis and then the assassination of Kennedy himself.
The rest of the decade was no less perilous and precarious, with assassinations of leading figures all over the world, coups and countercoups, and the explosion of conflicts burning all across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Amidst it all, on July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon during the successful Apollo 11 mission.
Kennedy remarked in his landmark speech, We Choose to Go to the Moon, “In an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance…We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
Space exploration has already had an indelible impact on human imagination and ingenuity. In the last half-century, it has led to incalculable advances, from those in our day-to-day lives that we now take for granted, such as GPS, to those integral to our society, such as MRI. As interstellar internet is starting to demonstrate today, we are just on the cusp of harnessing space's potential.
Of course, there are space skeptics, especially in the climate community. Yet the iconic image of Earth from space helped foster the modern environmental movement. Satellites enable the monitoring of the state of the climate itself. What would we know about our climate on Earth if it weren’t for our forays into space?
Our divisions today are more pronounced than ever. There is no grand perspective or project of humanity uniting us all. Surface attempts at this in elite playgrounds around ‘agendas’ do not inspire the wider population.
Exploring a new frontier, Mars, would catapult human imagination into a new future and foster a sense of renewed solidarity and shared mission. In many ways, humanity has fallen into depression, staying ‘indoors’ and ruminating on refrains of despair. The best antidote is to go ‘outside’ and do the hard things that give purpose, meaning, and momentum.
Furthermore, we are in a period of demographic decline. What will inspire current generations towards populating the future? Unlike some prevailing perspectives (of Malthusian enthusiasts), a population implosion is not a panacea but a precursor to societal collapse.
The dividends of going to Mars will be infinite. The technological gains will expand the potential of communications, energy, and transportation. How we fly airplanes has remained largely the same for 100 years. We are unable to harness solar energy efficiently. Imagine what we would learn by operating in an environment like Mars.
The next window to go to Mars will be in 2026. If a ‘Mars shot’ is to be successful by the end of the decade, the work needs to accelerate in earnest today. It cannot be up to one man or one company. This project requires collaboration and competition from all over America and the world.
It is time to go beyond despair and find hope in the frontiers beyond. It is time to restore humanity’s belief in the possibility of the impossible.
The time to go to Mars is now.