MIT space researchers respond to President Bush's Mars planPresident Bush's Jan. 14 announcement of a new NASA initiative for sending humans to Mars via a moon base sent reporters scurrying for experts who could comment on the feasibility of such a plan. Many of the resulting news articles included commentary by MIT faculty members and researchers. Quotations from a few of those articles are below. "Any astronaut, you scratch our skin and you'll find Mars blood flowing underneath. That's how much I care about it." "We have to be certain that returning successfully to the moon does not become the end of the voyage, that we indeed use it as a steppingstone to Mars. Mars is where the scientific action is: the origins of our solar system and sister planets, and the search for life." "If we send human beings into space, we want to do everything we can to maintain their health and safety. Space is not friendly to the human body. What we need to do is carefully study the adverse effects of space flight on human physiology, then develop countermeasures, before we send astronauts on such a mission." "The president doesn't make an announcement like this without study. We have spent part of the last year doing a detailed study ... It's been almost 30 years since we built a new launch system. There is an enormous difference between the skills the nation had during Apollo and now. You have working at NASA now ... a generation that has never built a rocket." "The work force is a huge issue for NASA, but also an opportunity. If you are going to have a long-range plan, you want to have a lot of young people involved." A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 28, 2004. |
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RELATEDGrotzinger oversees rover - Grotzinger, MIT professor, is leader of the long-term planning group of NASA's science team overseeing the work of the Mars rover Spirit. 1/28/2004 More: Aeronautical / astronautical engineering |
