Should we go to Mars? | Opinion | murrayledger.com – Murray Ledger and Times

Recent news accounts suggest the race to go to Mars has begun in earnest, with two of our countrys richest men, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, competing with each other to take the lead.

Jeff Bezos Blue Origin spaceflight company launched a rocket into space last month and returned both the rocket and an empty crew capsule safely to earth. By 2024, Bezos hopes to send astronauts to the moon, which he sees as a necessary stepping stone to a Mars flight. Musks Space X company just returned four astronauts safely from the International Space Station. He hopes to land humans on Mars by 2026.

The Red Planet has long fascinated humans, and scientists have long wondered whether there might have once been water on this large barren rock. This new interest in Mars by the private sector seems to be motivated more by ego and monetary concerns than by scientific ones.

At first glance, it might seem odd for billionaires to spend money on space exploration when we have so many problems on our planet they could address with their excess funds. But I think that misses the point.

Isnt it understandable that, given the growing problems we have sustaining ourselves on earth pollution, overpopulation, war, climate issues, extensive poverty and disease the worlds two richest men might think it is time to escape before earth collapses into warfare over resources, especially if they can make some money on the way out?

If we could find some underground sources of water on Mars and figure out a way to exist in the thinner air there, we might have a place to go once we have drained all the aquifers here on earth in an attempt to stay alive and beat the heat that is coming.

The problem with this thinking is that while climate change is certain to cause enough death and destruction to make the COVID-19 pandemic really seem like the flu, there is nothing we might do to colonize the moon or Mars in time to prevent massive loss of life on Earth.

Bezos and Musk both worry about carbon emissions, but they want to use technology to capture carbon rather than the simpler solution of reforestation or planting crops that sequester carbon in the soil. Many scientists question the idea that we can use technology alone to save our planet (Sam Snead, CNBC 4-19-21).

But we humans tend to reject the idea of sacrificing our comforts by limiting ourselves or our enjoyments. We would rather invent our way out of problems by creating something to collect pollutants rather polluting less in the first place. We will buy an electric car to reduce carbon emissions while also tearing up land a chuck in Idaho to mine the lithium to power electric car batteries. Driving less or car-pooling is not nearly as glamorous as impressing your friends with an expensive new Tesla.

There are many good scientific reasons for space exploration, and even for learning more about Mars. But what Musk and Bezos do in space, with government support, can distract us from the more serious and immediate problems facing our planet which cannot be solved by settlements on Mars 50 years from now. Neither technology nor colonization of other planets can prevent the disasters that could be caused this century alone by climate change.

Some nave liberals like myself might say that space exploration is morally questionable in the face of a climate disaster that could end our species.

Jeff Bezos net worth floats between 175 and 200 billion dollars. Musk is not far behind. How many COVID vaccinations could we distribute with some of this money and that of other very wealthy people and foundations? How much birth control could we dispense to ease planetary overcrowding? How much could we use feed and house victims of war in the middle east? How many trees we could plant to reduce carbon emissions with just a small portion of what these men have? Pick and choose.

Ill bet we would still have a few coins left to build a colony or two on the moon in the next century after making things better on earth in this one.

Ken Wolf is a Democrat and a retired Murray State University history professor. He speaks here as an individual and not as a representative of either of these organizations. He can be reached at wolken43@gmail.com.

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Should we go to Mars? | Opinion | murrayledger.com - Murray Ledger and Times