Gaze up tonight and remember the moon landing – Lynchburg News and Advance

If all goes well, another Virginian will touch Mars indirectly first. On July 30, NASA is set to launch a robotic rover to Mars. Its name, Perseverance, was submitted by Alexander Mather, a 7th-grader at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Fairfax County. If it lands safely in February, Perseverance will search for signs of past microbial life on the red planet, something Cardman likely has a special interest in.

The real question about when humans return to the moon, and go onto Mars, isnt a technological one, but a political one. Are we willing to pay for it?

Our record for sustained funding science is spotty at best. Trump has been gung-ho about space, but Congress hasnt necessarily shared that enthusiasm. The 2024 goal seems driven entirely by politics. Of course, so was Kennedys goal to put a man on the moon by the end of the 60s, just a slightly different kind of politics. We know Trump is keen to meet that 2024 deadline; would a President Biden feel the same way? No clue, but since Kennedy, Democrats have been more interested in spending money on earth, not off it.

Its unclear whether that 2024 deadline can be met. The website Axios recently quoted one of the nations space policy experts, John Logsdon, of George Washington University, as saying: I think basically, making 2024 would be a miracle. Axios then proceeded to list all the reasons why basically delays in funding and testing.

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Gaze up tonight and remember the moon landing - Lynchburg News and Advance