To Mars yes. How? To Mars yes. How?
To Mars yes. How? To Mars yes. How?
Why do we have to go to Mars? This is a question often asked to those of us who are engaged in scientific outreach. Scott Hubbard gives arguments in the accompanying interview. We have to go to Mars, I have no doubt. How?
Mars, in addition to being the star and desire for space exploration, is the valva of astronautics. Countless missions have been lost in the thirst of the Red Planet, which is the one with the highest density of failures. Without going too far back, there are the Escarzanos MPO and MPL or, going back a dozen years, the Soviet Phobos I and II, without forgetting the intermediate losses. Over a decade, failures have been more than successes in Martian exploration. However, we should not be discouraged. The losses of MPO and MPL have clearly shown us that the application of the slogan 'faster, cheaper and smaller' cannot affect the certainty of missions and success thresholds. Walking at a low price means a loss of quality that distorts success. At least we have learned that lesson.
On the other hand, the exploration of Mars should not blind us. You don't have to put most of the eggs in that basket and that's what's happening to NASA. In the absence of sufficient funds, NASA has to prioritize missions and Mars has an excessive priority, in my opinion.
NASA has abandoned the mission of exploring the planet from the footprints of our system, called Pluto-Kuiper Express, and has renounced, at least now, the 2004 launch window, renouncing for a generation at least the reasonable option to explore firsthand in Pluto. But missions to Mars remain the same.
Given that the shooting windows to Mars open every two years, wouldn't it be smarter, at least scientifically, to postpone a mission from Mars and use these resources to explore Pluto? NASA is committed to Mars, although it has opened the door to hope for Pluto because it has opened a competition among its suppliers to channel the Pluto Kuiper Express in an economic way. In San José we will be determined to do so, but will it bring us some explanation?
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