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| Renewed Interest in Mars |
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 The Viking Mars Landers was launched on the heels of the
Apollo Moon landings. In fact, most of the electronic parts used in the Viking spacecraft came from the Apollo program. As a young engineer, 27 years ago, I worked on the Viking Mars Lander. I
tested the batteries and the electronic controllers used to maintain the batteries and worked on some of the power supplies and guidance control systems. For me, fresh from college, it was
exciting work. |
| Following the two successful mid 1970's Viking landings, interest in Mars faded. In fact, it seemed that interest in
space in general had faded. Now after a long 20 year hiatus, Mars is once again in the spotlight. Perhaps it was the recent discovery that Mars may have had bacteriological life, as hinted
by some meteorites that may have originated from Mars. Or, perhaps it was the more recent successful surface exploration missions involving a small wheeled robot named "Sojourner" that
re-captured interest in Mars. Whatever the reason, people are once again talking about sending humans to Mars. |
| And why not go to Mars? The United States economy is doing well and we are not waging a major war. It is
time for a new generation to get excited about Mars. If the world society really wanted to go to Mars, we could do it in as little as 10 years from now. The first missions would be for
exploration, rock collection and searching for water and mineral resources. If those missions prove successful, I think people might be ready to leave earth and to start a new life on Mars. |
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