Too salty?

Friday, February 15th 2008 – NASA has announced that unfortunately, the Martian planet has been ‘too salty’ to support life throughout its existence. This horrible revelation is elaborated by Dr. Andrew Knoll, a member of the Mars rover team. He suggests that "It was really salty - in fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best,". Fascinating stuff. This news effectively tightens the noose around the ‘life on Mars’ theory. It is indeed a dark day for mankind.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of our space exploration endeavours and have been a Trekkie for quite some time. The cynical tone emanating from my fingers simply comes from the fact that, just as much of the world news services during the past few weeks, I am suffocating in a sea of trivial news. Granted, ol’ Vlad Putin declaring a new arms race this week is certainly newsworthy yet it has the same entertainment value as a David Vs. Goliath taunting match…. Make that a David Vs. the Borg taunting match. There are also some celebrity mishaps, Kenyan guerilla warfare and the never-ending Obama Vs. Clinton boxing match (``I deplore him/her and his/her methods; my opponent is weak and untrustworthy…and in a few months when the Republicans are the enemy I will shout slogans about unity and togetherness). I long for the days of Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Warsaw worker’s uprising in 1980, the Hungarian revolution of 1956, the Watergate scandal of 1974 … fine! I wasn’t actually born yet when all these events occurred yet I find it unfair that I seem to be fascinated by them 1000% more than the people that actually lived through them. But I digress…

The United States and world contributors to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have pumped over a trillion dollars into this Mars exploration. Some billion dollar rovers have actually made it to the planet and have given us breathtaking pictures of a barren wasteland (‘But it’s red! How exotic!’). Also, many billion dollar rovers have been shot into space and never heard from again, I can’t imagine how much time it would actually take to literally burn all that money. I am sure NASA could give me a grand speech about the compulsion and infinite rewards of human exploration in space yet I can’t see them showing much for the amount of resources we give them. It almost seems as though they realize our nonchalance and doubt about these Mars missions and thus they force themselves to release a random statement every few months ‘Mars is too salty’, simply fantastic.

For once, I will actually suggest something useful. If we want to discover a parallel to the earthly development of life in our solar system, we should spend more of our resources on Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter. For random exploration, we could easily find an infinite amount of highly valuable materials in the asteroid belt past Mars. For kicks, we could actually try building a functional, long-term and TRULY international space station in orbit. You may think I am being wishful but my study of the 1960s space race has taught me that we can aspire to unbelievable goals if given enough money and motivation to ‘one-up’ someone else. Otherwise, we will turn on our TVs to hear scientists claim the amazing discovery of relatively useless things.

Have a pleasant week back on earth and please stay away from things that are too salty.
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(Pictured: Buzz Aldrin walks the moon - The salty red planet)

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