When I was sixteen, my friend Craig and I made a pact that we'd spend our final years on Mars rocking back and forth on the front porch of some futuristic farmhouse--not unlike Bill Lermer in Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky. We'd absorb the scenic view--acre upon acre of genetically engineered Martian crops reaching up from once-barren red, dry landscape, and thriving under the influence of weather modifiers and terra-forming equipment.
Of course, we both assumed that the space program of the 1960's and 70's would rapidly lead to a permanent 2001-ish space station which would be a jumping-off point for planet exploration, manned landings, and eventual colonization of our solar system. Looking back, we had many reasons to be optimistic.
Obviously we're not nearly there yet, so I've set my sights a little lower. I'll now settle for knowing if life ever existed on Mars, and if it currently supports any life. We seem to be getting closer to that answer now that water ice has been discovered-- driving the current rumor that there just might be the potential for life under the inhospitable Martian surface.
From a recent article in Aviation Week:
The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the "potential for life" on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability--the "potential" for Mars to support life--at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say.
Is there life where there's water?
For whatever reason, this recent news has rekindled a youthful passion and, surprisingly enough, increased my optimism about mankind's future. I haven't talked to Craig in over ten years, but I wonder if he feels the same way.
