152 Partn IWritingan£ssal'
5 TheMarsSociety[agroupthatsupportsMarsexploration]sharesthat
opinion.InitsFoundingDeclaration,thesocietywrote,"Aswebeginthetwenty-
firstcentury,wehaveevidencethatwearechangingtheEarth'satmosphereand
environmentinsignificantways....Mars,theplanetmostlikeEarth,willhave
evenmoretoteachusaboutourhomeworld.Theknowledgewegaincouldbe
keytooursurvival.".
6 Andmanyscientistsassertthatthebestwaytoattainthatknowledgei~
withhumanscientists."Robotscandoa lot,"ChrisWelch,a lecturerinspace
technologyatKingstonUniversity,toldtheBBC."Buthavingmultipletraine~
humanbeingstherewouldtellussomuchmore."DavaNewman,associat~;
professorofaeronauticsattheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,agreed.
"It'sriskyandit'salsoverycostly,butthere'sjustsomuchhumanscandolis
explorersthatwedon'thaveanyotherwaytoaccomplish."
7 China,Russia,andtheEuropeanUnionhaveallannouncedplanstoboost
theirspaceprogramsincomingyears,includingsojournstothemoonandMars.
Somepeoplebelieveit'sessentialtoU.S.internationalstatusthattheUnit~~
Statesleadthewayinspaceexploration."Republicanofficialssaidconser\)~tive
lawmakerswhomightbalkatthecost[ofa mannedmissiontoMars]arelikelyto
beluredbythechancetoextendtheU.S.militarysupremacyin spacewheM
Chinais pursuinglunarprobesandRussiaisconsideringa Marsmission,"Mike
AllenandEricPianinwroteinTheWashingtonPost.
a TheEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA)hasdevelopeda long-termplan-known
asAurora-thatwilluseroboticstofirstexplorelow-Earthorbitandthenmove
fartheroutintoplanetaryexcursions,includingMars.TheESAintendstosehda
rovertoMarsby 2009 anda mannedmissiontothemoonby 2024 thatwilL
"demonstratekeylifesupportandhabitationtechnologiesaswellasaspectsof
crewperformanceandadaptation."ThefinalstepintheAuroraprogramisa
humanmissiontoMarsinthe2030s..
9 Regainingthetoppositioninscienceandtechnologyisanotherreasonto
supporta Marsmission.AccordingtoTheNewYorkTimes,thedominancethe
UnitedStates oncehadinscienceandinnovationhasdeclinedinrecentyei:lrs
asthenumberofinternationalprizesandjournalpublicationsawardedto
EuropeanandAsianresearchershasincreased.JenniferBond,vicepresidehtfor
internationalaffairsfortheCouncilonCompetitivenesssaid,"Manyother
countrieshaverealizedthatscienceandtechnologyarekeytoeconomicgrowth
andprosperity.They'recatchinguptous."ShewarnedthatpeopleintheUnited
Statesshouldnot"restontheirlaurels."A pollbytheAssociatedPressseemsto
indicatethatmanypeopleintheUnitedStatesagreewithher.Seventy-two
percentofrespondentsinthepolldeemedit importantfortheUnitedStates
tobethe"leadingcountryintheworldintheexplorationofspace.".
10 "Americaisnotgoingtoremainatpeace,andwe'renotgoingtoremainthe
mostprosperousnation,andwe'renotgoingtoremaina freenationunlesswe
remainthetechnologicalleaderoftheworld,"saidRepresentativeDana.
Rohrabacher,chairmanoftheHouseSubcommitteeonSpaceandAeronauHcs.
"Andwewillnotremainthetechnologicalleaderoftheworldunlesswearethe
leadersinspace."