Why Explore?

Mars exploration takes an intrinsic need and turns it into governmental action. The cost is billions of dollars over time. Humans explore because of science, but also because of an innate drive to know what is on the next frontier. We want to extend the human presence outward. How do we fit into the universe? Are we alone? Mars embodies scientific and larger human needs. Mars is attainable. It may have answers to age-old questions that are among the most profound that humans ask. Robots are there today and will continue to forge a trail. They may find life or evidence of past life. Whether or not they do, they will address fundamental issues. The quest itself lifts the spirit. Robots go first as pioneers. Ultimately, men and women will bring life to the Red Planet. Mars calls because we want to know about ourselves.

[1] found myself unconsciously urging the [Viking] spacecraft at least to stand on its tiptoes, as if this laboratory designed for immobility, were perversely refusing to manage even a little hop. How we longed to poke that dune with the sample arm, look for life beneath that rock, see if that distant ridge was a crater rampart. And not so very far to the southeast, I knew, were the four sinuous channels of Chryse. For all the tantalizing and provocative character of the Viking results, I know a hundred places on Mars which are far more interesting than our landing sites. The ideal tool is a roving vehicle carrying on advanced experiments, particularly in imaging, chemistry, and biology.4