Way back when, in 20th Century 1969, Americans set foot on the moon. Fast forward to the 21st Century 2008. All eyes are on the planet Mars. For over twenty years now, our government has been sending all kinds of space junk to the red planet. Many of these robot missions ended without success until the Mars Rover made a safe trip several years ago and managed to send back photos of the terrain via satellite. The conclusion was that indeed, the "soil" of mars was red and like powder. All this scientific data ran up a bill close to several hundred million dollars which by the way, anyone could have done this from the earth for nothing. In the end, we learned of the extreme temperatures from daylight to darkness as well as the intense gravitational pull. Gravity is so heavy that a human would likely get smashed like a pancake immediately after exiting the spacecraft. But doggone it, NASA still had to find water there somewhere to prove that Orson Welles may have been right all along. Just a few days ago, a new robot began it's journey over the surface only to discover that merely a few inches under the surface showed proof of frozen water. Big Deal! Now that we have this information we can only speculate that the pyramids in Eqypt and Stonhenge were constructed by something or someone not from this earth. Now, I don't know what they'll look for next but, at the same time Nasa is already packing their suitcases ro make a return trip to the moon... IN 2025! That trip isn't as important as Mars however, which is closer to get to? NASA has a good point: when they say that going back to the moon will be very complex due to the fact that spacesuits need to be created from scratch with longevity in mind. The plan is to construct labs on the moon's surface. Such a task would force some of these guys to live in that environment for perhaps several years until the construction is finished. In other words, back in 1969 when they didn't have a clue what to expect when we got to the moon, it was pretty flawless. They practically did it with a simple suit and oxygen tank for pete's sake! Keep that in mind the next time some actor pleads with you on a tv ad to help the people displaced by the extreme weather here on Earth. As for "going green", I say "That's my kid's problem" My generation didn't cause this mess in the first place of course, I can think of a billion ways to spend a billion dollars by exploring the land outside my door. Take that Al Gore!
