New Mars

Could the true goal of Generation X be to send the first humans to Mars? George Whiteside believes so.

Space was our parents’ triumph, and our tragedy.

Gen-X is the first generation in history with the chance to send one of its own to Mars. For our own sakes, as well as for the sake of humanity, we cannot let that chance pass unfulfilled.

We are a curious generation, both lucky and adrift. Blessed with prosperity, peace, and education, we are on the verge of inheriting the strongest country in the world, at one its greatest moments. In just a few years we will hold an unparalleled opportunity to do something great for humankind, to make a deep and lasting mark on history.

There is only one problem: As a generation, we have no grand aspirations for our future. It is true that some of us care deeply about issues like the environment or service, but is there a goal out there that we seek together, that unifies and inspires us? Corner one of us, look us in the eye, and you’ll see that the answer is no.

This much-publicized ennui has its roots in the happy condition of our land. Living in a world without advancing evil, we have had the luxury of turning inward. Raised in a country in which the great injustices have been at least legally remedied, we have been left to work out the details of battles fought before our time.

With some hesitation, we admit that we wish we did not live in such uninteresting times. Privately, we yearn for a cause of our own, a grand public effort that would take us beyond the video-game society in which we have been raised.

What we have not realized is that there is a cause out there for us, one that is everything that we secretly hope for.

It is space exploration in general, and Mars in particular.

Mars will give us a goal and a destination, at a time when too many of us feel neither.

Making space our cause, and Mars our goal, would bring us together under a grand, peaceful endeavor. It would teach us about our universe in ways that we can barely imagine, and it would spur technology to greater heights. It would be a great gift to our children, both for their education and their future. To send some of our own to Mars would transform us from a generation that history will forget into a generation that history will revere.

Space is humanity’s next frontier, and we are the next generation. Mars, an uninhabited planet whose environment is closest to our own, waits, empty, for our arrival. If ever there was a match made in heaven, this is it.

So why haven’t we realized it? It is not hard to understand. To date our relationship with space has been defined by two things: our parents and the Challenger disaster.

Gen-X has been told since birth that the glorious moments in space history came before our time. We learned about the Apollo Moon landings from endless TV documentaries, heard again and again from our parents how much pride and wonder they felt while watching Armstrong’s steps.

Our defining moment with space, in contrast, was not stunning success but tragic failure. Challenger is our generation’s tragedy, our moral equivalent of JFK’s assassination. Where were you? I was in my sixth grade classroom, and I remember looking at Kevin Frasier and feeling loss for the first time.

With this background it is clear why we feel that space is not our generation’s issue. Space was our parents’ triumph, and our tragedy.

But space is our future too. And if we choose, Mars can one day be our present. We have much to gain.

It will give us a goal and a destination, at a time when too many of us feel neither.

It will yield wide-ranging scientific and technological benefits, at a time when Earth’s environment seems precariously delicate.

It will give us spiritual benefits, teaching us about our role and place in the universe, at a time when many of us feel lost.

It will reinvigorate our nation’s education system, at a time when it could use some new life.

Finally, in a time when the World Wide Web and genetic manipulation are drawing us towards a future none of us can be sure of, making Mars our goal will put us on a path in which we can all believe.

The funny thing is that we are already fascinated by space; our media habits prove it. The Mars Pathfinder mission web-site was the most visited site in history. Well, who uses the Web? We do! Another proof: Gen-X’s film and TV entertainment - from Apollo 13 to Contact to Star Trek to Tom Hank’s new series - is rife with space. It may be that at some level we already realize how space answers our needs.

The technology and cost for a Mars mission are within our grasp. We start by building on the achievements of our parents and grandparents, from Apollo to the Shuttle to Mir. To that fine foundation we add recent technological innovations - from computers to advanced materials - that the aerospace industry has been too slow to adopt. When we add it up, we will see that the cost is far less than we expect, and far less than NASA has predicted in the past.

To focus our minds we should set a date for our departure. I know the perfect day: January 28th, 2011, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Challenger explosion. What better testament to the astronauts who died and to the character of our generation than to answer that tragedy with this resounding triumph?

We have the technology, the interest, and the motivation. We have the reasons: spiritual, educational, and technological. Now we must take our blessings and do something truly great with them. In this historic moment of peace and prosperity, we have the chance to marshal our resources and take the next step in our exploration of the universe. The greatest achievement in human history is within our grasp. We have only to decide to go. So, Gen-X, what are we waiting for? To Mars!

Filed under: Articles on August 6th, 2001