Nasa

[gagged_Louise]

I think they should be kept substantially funded. Obviously there's more urgent projects down here at present than refiring a programme of sending astronauts to the moon and, later, Mars (apparently NASA lost the original designs for the Saturn V rocket and so on, so the technology to send manned craft to moons and planets will have to be largely reinvented and rebuilt) but the scientific gains by NASA, ESA and other space agencies have been simply amazing, and the space race has had a rcih overspill into other uses of the technology that they came up with or helped fund.

The internet as we know it and modern computer wiring are, to a large extent, by-products of the space race and the military build-up that it was closely tied to: running rockets and satellites in real time far beyond the earth, and communicating with space crews and unmanned probes, plainly forced development of new and more powerful computer systems and radio links, monitors, circuits and network services. Without the Apollos. no Apple PC and no xboxes. So space exploration pays off in technical advance. I hope the fund cuts will not prove to be a really long-term trend.

There isn't going to be a large-scale colonization of Mars in the present century, in such a way that it could house any major emigration of this packed planet. The reason is simple: Mars is a very inhospitable place and any settling projects there will require big efforts before there will be anything like a permanently manned base or Martian villages under glass domes. And even putting the first men on Mars won't necessarily be a one-nation affair. Lion is just right in saying we need cooperation and joint efforts to keep up space exploration.