Bob Zubrin (see below) seems to know what he wants. But reading this essay, I have to wonder if he isn’t betting the farm on something which (however much we may want it) simply isn’t in the cards. None of us yet knows whether an announcement will be made at Kitty Hawk on Wednesday, nor what the content of that announcement may be. It could be the Moon, or Mars, the asteroids, or L1. It could be something entirely unexpected. It could be nothing at all.
In a previous post, I wondered what impact a to-the-Moon announcement would have on the fortunes and longevity of the Mars Society. While I can appreciate Bob’s uncompromising position here, this essay (as with many of his pronouncements of late) fails to leave wiggle room in the event that a return to the Moon is chosen instead of humans-to-Mars. If the organization hopes to survive such an announcement, it is going to have have some flexibility — few things will kill the Mars Society quicker than the sort of petulant denial with which hard-core Democrats greeted the 2000 election settlement. That may not in fact be Bob’s attitude here, but that is the implication that comes across to me — we should be going Mars or nowhere at all, so in the event the Moon should be chosen over Mars, the Mars Society will have nothing to do with the effort and will do what it can to undermine or derail it.
I hope I’m wrong — and that the organization will greet a return to the Moon with enthusiasm, and work to turn the effort into a stepping stone to Mars. A delay need not be a defeat.
The choice for Kitty Hawk
By Robert Zubrin
Tomorrow will be the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers historic first flight at Kitty Hawk and falls within the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Such a portentous occasion cannot go by unmarked, and the word is out that President Bush will travel to the scene of the aviation pioneers’ triumph to make a statement reaffirming America’s commitment to exploring new frontiers, which now lie in space.
Continue reading All or Nothing?