Editorial
Amazing feat on Mars
Hunt for traces of life by earthlings really begins
A giant leap forward has been taken in exploration of Mars in the saga of continuous US presence on Mars for 15 years. What marks out the touchdown on August 6, of Mars Science Laboratory called Curiosity in the Gale Crater, is the resounding success of a self-contained precision technology landing on the targeted spot of our nearest cousin planet.
The sheer magnitude of the feat can be gauged from the journey time and distance calculated at 8.5 months and 567 million kilometres, respectively. Then you marvel at the sophisticated instrumentation of the laboratory to drop a robotic car on the surface of the Red Planet, the heat shield, supersonic parachute and rocket-powered sky crane 'without any hitch'. More amazing are imageries already transmitted to NASA some of which resemble the deserts of Arizona besides the plethora of mountain peaks arranged in a picturesque landscape. It maybe a year before rover reaches its scientific target of Mount Sharp. Exploration of the Mount is supposed unlock some of the mysteries of the origin and evolution of the planet and traces of life support system embedded in the layers of the mountains.
We congratulate NASA on its achievement and partake of the glory of US people and its President Obama for their persistent support to the space exploration programmes.
Mankind hemmed in by multifarious problems on Earth with its finite resources is increasingly finding it difficult to cope with a growing global population and facing the challenge of climate change will feel a bit liberated at the advancement of space technology. The universe is said to be 'littered with places that support life'.
In such a context, where do we stand in terms of our relative status on science education, research capability and technology? First of all, we need to develop and nurture scientific temper in all strata of our society. We have a talented youth force, all they need are tools to experiment with, innovate, improvise, knock down contraptions and learn the ropes to build new ones. For this, we need policy prioritisation which would move things in the right direction including pooling resources and making critical investments happen.
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