Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

On the bright side

Mission to Mars a modern marvel

Rocky Mountain News

Published May 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

More Editorials

More stories »

Americans, it is becoming a cliche to observe, are down. A large portion of them are disgusted with their political leaders, worried about high energy prices, depressed by the five-year slog in Iraq and concerned about the future.

They tell pollsters the country has veered off track.

As justified as such sentiments may be, we hope they don't translate into a lack of appreciation for this society's underlying vitality and its continuing achievements - some of which would have been considered nothing short of miraculous not long ago.

Consider the ingenuity and hard work of NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Arizona and - last but hardly least - the Lockheed Martin employees in Jefferson County who designed, built and tested the $420 million Phoenix Mars Lander. Thanks to them, the United States has a new outpost in space, a 900-pound, three-legged research station comfortably settled in the far north of Mars.

After a 10-month, roundabout 422 million-mile journey from Earth, the Phoenix, using a parachute and thrusters, slowed from 12,000 mph to 5 and began a new era in Mars exploration. It had to be a hairy moment for Phoenix's handlers back on Earth. The landing took seven minutes but since it takes 15 minutes for a signal to reach Mars the technicians were helpless to intervene if something went wrong.

And there's much that can go wrong. This spacecraft is a lineal descendant of, and shares many of the same parts as, the 1999 Mars Polar Lander that simply disappeared. Hence the name Phoenix.

Phoenix not only landed intact but immediately got to work, deploying its solar panels, raising its weather mast and beaming photos back to Earth. (The photos are available at phoenix.lpl.Arizona .edu, but, be warned, this is scenery that only a Martian could love.)

Have we really lost sight of what an incredible achievement this is, or the brilliant sophistication in engineering and imagination necessary to pull it off?

Indeed, the Phoenix's mission sounds more improbable the more you learn about it. The landing site, for example, was chosen because it is relatively flat and featureless and also because it is believed water ice lies close enough to the surface of Phoenix's robotic arm to dig it out and test it for traces of organic compounds. Those compounds may provide a sign that life may have existed on the Red Planet and may still exist although in primitive form. But get this: The surface is so cold that the ground Phoenix will have to dig into is expected to be as hard as concrete.

The mission is intended to last three months. But who knows? The two little robot rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars in 2004 for a three-month mission and they're still trundling around today.

As the Phoenix Mars Lander demonstrates, the United States continues to lead the world in space, as it does, for that matter, in many other technological and scientific areas. That's something to keep in mind in case you're wondering whether the U.S. has the wherewithal to rebound from the current economic doldrums and consumer malaise.

This nation's problems may be immense, but then so are its assets. And unlike a phoenix, it has much more than ashes to build upon.

Comments

  • May 28, 2008

    8:06 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    malis writes:

    Gene, "A large portion of them are disgusted with their political leaders, worried about high energy prices, depressed by the five-year slog in Iraq and concerned about the future."

    Glad to help...need anything else?

  • May 28, 2008

    8:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    anarchist writes:

    The editorial states in part, "Americans, it is becoming a cliche to observe, are down. A large portion of them are disgusted with their political leaders", about time, seems some of our founding fathers were a bit "down" also, so they had a little tea party in boston harbor to help cheer the country up. I am not saying to dump Nancy Pelosi in the San Francisco bay, no, not at all, but when you vote this fall, vote wisely, fear the government that fears your right to petition your government for change, and your 2nd amendment rights of course.

  • May 28, 2008

    8:27 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jacka writes:

    The RMN could pump up the circulation with some reporting and investigations, suggestions below:

    Post ran a story on this lovely communique from UFCW Union skull and Local 7 president Ernie Duran, Esq.: http://www.freeuploadshare.com/DOWNLO...

    Lets call out Big Labor for co-opting Colorados business and government leaders into Selling Labor Peace.

    Lets call out Big Business for co-opting Colorado's elected officials by embrassing the Sale of Labor Peace.

    Where in the world is Greg Kolomitz's laptop?

    Boulder liberal Mark Udall, enviro extremeist and tax raiser. Congressman Udall is from Boulder County and is a Boulder Liberal.

  • May 28, 2008

    8:38 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    anarchist writes:

    "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
    - Plato -

  • May 28, 2008

    3:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    me2 writes:

    Well pooh on the RMN. I guess without them I wouldn`t be upset with the Iraq occupation, wouldn`t even notice the prices at the pump, would think our Republican leaders are a fine, competent bunch, and would envision a rosy future even with the dollar falling like a lead apple.

    And to think that if only the RMN was more positive, I would feel so much better.

    I mean, it`s not like reality has anything to do with our moods, now does it?

  • May 28, 2008

    4:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    The RMN uses NASA as an example of brilliant American ingenuity and imagination. And they're right.

    Sadly, some Americans disagree. In fact, the most extreme rightwinger on this forum confidently stated on another thread to me today:

    "...you get less bang for your buck when government spends the money rather than private enterprise. A perfect example is NASA. NASA is highly inefficient. Yes, NASA invented some cool stuff. But, someday, private enterprise will make NASA look like a relic from the stone age."

    I would say the conservatives need to get their story straight on whose to blame for spreading a sour mood in this country.

  • May 28, 2008

    6:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    roger44 writes:

    All the space exploration we've done, billions of dollars, to what good? Bragging rights? That and 4 bucks will buy a cup of coffee....

  • May 30, 2008

    6:35 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    linn writes:

    Here's an expert from a lecture by one of our greatest minds in science and worth the read, espcecially for those that would rather buy a cup of coffee versus explore space...

    Why We Should Go Into Space
    by Stephen Hawking
    Professor, University of Cambridge

    Why we should go into space? What is that justification for spending all that effort and money on getting a few lumps of moon rock? Aren't there better causes here on Earth? In a way, the situation was like that in Europe before 1492. People might well have argued that it was a waste of money to send Columbus on a wild goose chase. Yet, the discovery of the new world made a profound difference to the old.

    Spreading out into space will have an even greater effect. It will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all. It won't solve any of our immediate problems on Planet Earth, but it will give us a new perspective on them and cause us to look outwards and inwards. Hopefully, it would unite us to face a common challenge. We have already driven Rovers on Mars and landed a probe on Titan, a moon of Saturn, but if one is considering the future of the human race, we have to go there ourselves.

    Going into space won't be cheap, but it will take only a small proportion of world resources. NASA's budget has remained roughly constant in real terms since the time of the Apollo landings, but it has decreased from .3 percent of U.S. GDP in 1970 to .12 percent now. Even if we were to increase the international budget 20 times to make a serious effort to go into space, it would only be a small fraction of world GDP.

    There will be those who argue that it would be better to spend our money solving the problems of this planet, like climate change and pollution, rather than wasting it on a possibly fruitless search for a new planet. I am not denying the importance of fighting climate change and global warming, but we can do that and still spare a quarter of a percent of world GDP for space. Isn't our future worth a quarter of percent?

    We thought space was worth a big effort in the '60s. In 1962, President Kennedy committed the U.S. to landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This was achieved just in time by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The space race helped to create a fascination with science and led to great advances in technology, including the first large scale integrated circuits which are the basis of all modern computers.

    A new interest in space would also increase the public standing of science generally. The low esteem in which science and scientists are held is having serious consequences. We live in a society that is increasingly governed by science and technology, yet fewer and fewer young people long to go into science.

  • May 30, 2008

    9:26 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    anarchist writes:

    mytwosense posts in part,"The RMN uses NASA as an example of brilliant American ingenuity and imagination. And they're right.", good heavens, talk about war crimes, the perfector of the Nazi v-2 was Werner Von Braun, and after the war with germany, (we didnt apologise to them yet either) he was captured and forcibly brought to the U.S., he was also a major contributor to the space program, hows that for good old american ingenuity and imagination?

  • May 30, 2008

    10:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    anarchist, I do believe you have a crush on me. You've been following me around the forums all morning...

    I'm flattered!

  • May 30, 2008

    7:56 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    anarchist writes:

    mytwosense, I enjoy a lively debate, no matter how wrong the other person involved is, so if I have flattered you with that attention, and made your day brighter, it's not a bad thing at all.