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In the world news
17:01 p.m. EST Apr 19, 2004
Published 00:48 a.m. EST Feb 2, 2004
Recent reports in world news are pretty interesting to the community at ExplorersWeb. There are no American climbers scheduled for Pakistan mountains this year. Those in place are instead looking for Bin Laden. The terrorist is now definitely believed to be alive, hiding out around the Pakistan border. It doesn't help that Pakistan slashed it's climbing fees by 50%. The reward for good ol' Bin will pay for a lifetime worth of climbing expeditions.
Polish the runners
On a brighter side, Mars Express of ESA have identified water ice on the South Pole, which is good as our own is melting. The Red Planet's northern ice cap is already thought to contain water ice, along with frozen carbon dioxide, the substance also known as dry ice. Get ready to polish those sled runners.
A spooked spirit
NASA scored twice this weekend. Spirit stopped the manic reboots when it got company from Opportunity. On initial touch down, Spirit sent back incredible pictures in sheer awe. But when reality sunk in, Spirit got spooked. Restless, its onboard processor woke up, loaded flight software, then uncovered a condition that, in turn, caused the rover's brain to reset itself after a period of time. It then repeated that cycle. But with the arrival of Opportunity, Spirit calmed down and now both American rovers are chatting away happily, on opposite sides of the red rock.
Anybody out there
The only sad face remaining is the Beagle. The union just can't get a bark out of him. The American Odyssey and the Mars Express will try a last resort, telling Beagle to switch off and reload its software. "We are now working on the basis that this is a corrupt system and the only way we might resurrect it is send such a command and completely reload the software, if it's still alive." Beagle is believed either knocked unconcious or hiding out in a crater.
Meanwhile, the Opportunity has beamed back sensational pictures of the mysterious landscape at Meridiani Planum, which is near the Martian equator.
When are we leaving?
All this excitement have us wonder - so when do WE get to go? We can climb those mountains, we can ski those poles and we are pretty used to tech glitches in harsh, faraway places. NASA states the problems: No doctors, expedition members hating each other, brittle bones and radiation. Done that. (Radiation? Well, not much ozone over earth's poles. Brittle bones? Check any altitude climber.)
So, the mission is clear, the explorers are there - but the sponsors are not.
Sponsor needed for very cool expedition
Bush declared he wants to land astronauts on Mars around 2030. Budget: $1 billion a year over the next five years. Wow. Except the U.S. government already spends $15.5 billion a year on the space program - in turn less than 1 percent of the overall budget. Nasa is not getting new money, just rearranging the old ones. So where is the actual cash behind the promise? Bush hopes that other nations will chip in. "This expedition will be in friendship, not in competition." Yeah, right. Just ask Amundsen, Scott and Columbus. Or check what got us to the moon.
Bad credit
Like any expedition, this one too will take dogged persistence, ingenuity and involve serious risk. Plus an out-of-this-world sponsor pitch. Going to Mars is more expensive that going to Everest. It's actually even more expensive than going to the moon. Bush knows that, and didn't revisit his Mars vision during the State of the Union address. We cant afford it and neither will our kids, says the American media. "A mountain of debt stands between us and the plains of Mars."
Watch us
So where does this leave us poor adventurers, born to explore but seriously stuck here on earth, growing increasingly tired of climbing Everest backwards and skiing to North Pole blindfolded?
Friendship between nations? Hardly. But check your past to see your future: Promise our Kings gold. Use the competition, not between nations but between our new rulers - the Tycoon companies. Or build your own rocket out of E-bay parts and keep your fingers crossed. That's how it's always been done. And that's how we'll do it again. Sure Mr President, maybe you will land on Mars in 2030. But you won't be first.
Image "Last photo from Mars rover Spirit before communications were lost..." courtesy of signature "poppimatny"
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