Ars Technica: I wasn’t sure what to expect when walking into the new Mars exhibit at Space Center Houston. For technical and financial reasons, as well as a flagging national commitment, NASA just doesn’t seem like it will send humans to Mars any time soon. The space agency’s “Journey to Mars” is long on hype, but short on concrete plans and funding. With that said, the thought of actually landing on Mars remains hard to resist.
3 comments:
I find that exhibits like these are very important for getting the public excited and educated about things like space. The whole idea of going to space is exciting but ever since we did it the hype seems to have subsided. Now that exploration is back on the map, there is still convincing that needs to be done. When the space race was till about beating the commies to the moon we had no problem throwing money at it until it worked. Now that the cold war era space age hype is gone government officials are reluctant to give out money. I find that these kind of exhibits get the voting population excited and educated about such topics. in the long run i would hope to see our officials share our hype so that we may travel the stars once again. That way both funding and research can advance and aid in our mission twords the stars.
Human clearly have interest in leaving Earth and going to other planets like Mars; it's the plot to many science fiction movies. People are extremely interested in what Mars would be like because we usually only see a dramatised version in Hollywood movies. I love the idea that this exhibition is interactive. Since the idea behind this exhibit is that one day this will be real, having the exhibit interactive makes the experience more believable. Also, I think that people will like this exhibit because often times museums look backwards in history. Showing people what could be, rather the what has been always fascinates people. However I would wonder how much of this exhibit is fantasy as opposed to scientific theory, ideas, or facts. I hope that in the attempt to make the exhibit interesting, the designers and curators kept in scientifically accurate, at least to our best knowledge because people expect museums to provide information and facts. Nevertheless, this exhibit sounds interesting and I hope I get to enjoy it one day.
The thought of living on a different planet is definitely a cool concept but to be honest I think it is way too far out. When you think about the “unknown” my mind goes directly to space travel and how little we know about our universe. That fact that we could just be a small blip in the grand scheme of things is just crazy. So when I see exhibits like this I kind of have to wonder what is fiction and what is not. Next time someone offers me a trip to outer space I might be a little hesitant about it but I would probably have to take them up on it. The whole Idea of living on a new planet and having to start from zero is something that no one has ever seen in this life time. So if that day ever comes you better believe I will be there with my hammer and nail.
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