I’m excited about the Martian rover, Curiosity: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
No, that’s an understatement. I think landing robots on Mars is just flat out awesome. Let’s send more. Let’s send people. Let’s send people to Jupiter, Pluto and beyond.
I like sci-fi, sure. Quite a bit, actually, but I’m not a super-hardcore sci-fi geek. The thing is, this isn’t sci-fi, this is sci-fi becoming sci-real. Watch this video – after sitting through an annoying commercial – and try to tell me this isn’t the stuff of Star Wars movies: http://www.space.com/11368-curiosity-unusual-landing-mars.html
So what are we waiting for? Somebody needs to convene a global space summit, and every nation should agree to divert 10-per cent of their military spending to space exploration. That should be easy to agree on, right?
Mind you, just 10-per cent. The last thing we want to do is disarm. The aliens may already be among us. For your consideration, ladies and gentlemen:
Exhibit A:
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/IstOvy9fBMmhhl4nCa.GZA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7aD00NDE7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_ca/News/Capress/NYET976-418_2010_143935_high.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ca.omg.yahoo.com/news/country-star-travis-accused-dwi-retaliation-north-texas-153006113.html&usg=__0ROXg6ByERQlfH8JAuemGGMdT_0=&h=441&w=630&sz=35&hl=en&start=53&zoom=1&tbnid=pqTqCVjY9jfjQM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=137&ei=oPciUOzhI9CN6QG-moCoCg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Drandy%2Btravis%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den-us%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1
…and Exhibit B:
