Curiosity on Mars

On November 26th, 2011, NASA launched the Curiosity rover. It landed on the red planet on August 6th after a 350 million mile journey. According to NASA, the rover landed only 1.5 miles from its target. The $2.6 billion rover will spend years on the planet taking pictures and gathering research. As of now, it is heading to Mount Sharp. Its main goal: to provide evidence of life on Mars.

Long before ice was found on Mars, the world has been captivated with the idea that life may exist on other places than Earth. This notion has been prominently showcased in Hollywood. Films featuring aliens include I Am Number Four, Independence Day, Meet Dave, Men in Black, Planet 51, Prometheus, Super 8, and    Transformers. These films have portrayed aliens from everything as giant robots to friendly creatures.

But why is it that we are so captivated with the idea of aliens? Is it because we believe that these aliens are just like us? Or do we believe that they will help better us? Aliens are typically portrayed as having superior technology. So will working with them advance our society? And if so, in what way?  The possibilities are endless.

But our ability to find these aliens may be dwindling. There are already budget constraints on what the rover can do. NASA has already been facing tremendous cuts. The White House has called for cuts in NASA's budget. Because of these cuts, NASA is shifting from ambitious planetary explorations to educational programs.  In the president's scheduled budget for 2013, NASA has been allotted $17.7 billion. This is less than the usual amount, and it could have a drastic effect on the amount of space explorations that it will be able to do in the future.

This raises the question, in bad economic times like these, how much emphasis should be placed on scientific endeavors? The government is trying their best to prioritize everything, but as always, things like defense will win out. Nonetheless, we must always remember how important scientific exploration is. After all, space is the final frontier.