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Two planets of our galaxy are inhabited. We are the Earth, where humans have sown chaos for centuries. The other is Mars, which is totally inhabited by robots, which drive, drill, listen, sample around this sandy ground.
For reasons beyond the control of some earthlings, there is an abundant curiosity for the red planet, which is only half the size of the Earth. They think that the desolation on Mars could illuminate the origins of life on Earth. Of course, exploring the desolation of Arizona would be a lot cheaper.
But there are new indications that humans – at least Americans – are entering one of their irregular cycles of restless curiosity for space and the deadly mysteries that hide in them. We had one in the 1960s, which President Kennedy mobilized to become the first country to land men on the moon.
A new Gallup poll has revealed that for the first time ever, a majority of Americans are in favor of sending a human or female mission to discover Mars. Today, it is 53% and 46% is not.
It's actually quite a change in just 20 years, when a majority of Americans said, "Forget it.
In 1969, at the time of the glory days of the US space program, while the first two astronauts had just walked on the Moon and returned with success, only 39% told Gallup they were in favor of sending astronauts on Mars, while 53% opposed it.
And here's an interesting twist: going to Mars is a bipartisan agreement, Republicans and Democrats being equally positive about the idea (55%) and 53% of independents equally favorable. Support for such a mission is most important among young people and least among the elderly, although they have moved.
In recent decades, the focus has been on sending unmanned robots to bypass or orbit different planets or moons and, in some surprising cases, to land on Mars in order to drive them and to To explore this place.
By studying the effects of prolonged weightlessness around the Earth on human bodies, the International Space Station flew over the Earth 16 times a day at a speed of 17,500 miles at an hour and altitude of 270 miles.
Of course, American, Russian and European astronauts spend only a few months each. That's roughly equivalent to a one-way trip to Mars, which ranges from 34 to 250 million kilometers from Earth.
In his July 4 remarks last week, President Trump said, "We are going back to the moon … and soon we will plant the American flag on Mars."
The president would have been eager to take NASA to prepare for an inhabited return to the moon. Apollo 17, the last mission of this type launched in December 1972, led the eleventh and twelfth men to walk there.
These plans inevitably slip, but NASA is currently considering sending the Americans back to the surface of the moon by the end of Donald Trump's second term. (I just check to see if you are still reading.)
One of the main factors that hindered the exploration of the human space was the costs. However, the latest Gallup poll found that all age groups had similar views, with 62% to 65% of respondents believing that the costs were justifiable.
In 1999, only half of Americans surveyed could name Neil Armstrong as the first man on the moon. Today, this percentage has increased to 66%. But a quarter of respondents still have no idea.
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